The Night Will Always Win
by ithinkyourewonderful
Summary: Post-Curse - Regina has a bold plan to protect Henry, but can Emma trust her? Especially when it means learning from the Evil Queen herself?
1. Don't Look At The Moon Tonight

The Night Will Always Win

By ithinkyourewonderful.

Disclaimer: Not mine, never was, never will be...

Rating: PG-13 (Language)

Placement: Set between "Queen of Hearts" and "The Cricket Game" (IE - Emma and Snow are back, and Cora's well on her way but not here yet.)

Summary: Post-Curse - Regina has a bold plan to protect Henry, but can Emma trust her? Especially when it means learning from the Evil Queen herself?

x ~ x

Chapter One - Don't Look At The Moon Tonight

x ~ x

"What is it like?" Emma asks. She figures she should take advantage of the darkened room. Of Regina's odd mood. She might be rewarded with an answer - or punished by being flung across the room. Again.

"What's what like, Miss Swan?" the regal woman asks, as she tosses off the hood of her cloak.

"Magic." Emma answers as she watches Regina move around the room but trying to stay in the shadows. It's as if the other woman was afraid of the moonlight streaming in through the windows. The moon seems brighter lately, fuller, if that's possible - but Emma can't tell if it's because she's seeing it seemingly for the first time, after their return from Fairy Tale Land, or what.

"I thought you were here to learn how to protect Henry against Cora, Miss Swan, not to play twenty questions." Regina kneels at the bookshelf and reaches for something.

"Magic is all Cora has, Regina." Emma explains. "If we're gonna protect Henry, I want to know all I can about her." And about you, Emma finishes the thought in her head.

Emma doesn't know if she can trust Regina, not fully. She knows she won't hurt Henry, not willingly - but this was also the woman who ripped out her own father's heart. _Literally_ reached in and removed it in an act of pain. This was clearly a woman who wasn't in control of her own actions when her emotions were involved. If she had to, she would say she trusts Regina about as much as she trusts a wild animal. But she wants to. She wants to trust her. It's not just to have someone who shares the fear over Henry's safety, or to guide her through the upcoming battle, or even because she's the Savior. No, she wants to trust Regina because she needs to have someone who understands her, and despite the snide and snarky comments - Emma knows Regina understands her. All of her. Because she understands the older woman like she's never understood anyone else.

It scares her.

It scares Emma to know she understands the older woman who condemned an entire world to suffer alongside herself.

"It's like being at one with the universe." Regina begins, her voice low, reminding Emma of the hushed tones used in churches. She rises from the ground and crosses the room, her cloak brushing Emma's arm as she passes. In the dark, Emma can't tell if she's gliding or hovering. "Once you use magic, it's like you're at one with the universe. Every atom of mine can feel every atom of yours. It becomes a part of the apple tree outside, the pages of Henry's books, the wind and the waves and the birds and the stars and the sky. There is a one-ness, a sense of belonging, when you use magic." A flame appears, a candle burning in the dark - no match in sight. In the warm glow, Regina's skin shines like bronze, her eyes hooded and dark with magic and emotion and power and god knows what else. She places the candle on the fire place mantle and crosses back towards Emma until they're nearly side by side. "Take the candle. There is no boundary between my body, my mind, the air around us, or the flame. We're all one." As if on cue, the flame goes out, leaving them in the familiar cold of the moonlight.

"Nice parlor trick." Emma mutters on edge.

"I am available for children's birthday parties." The other woman delivers in a deadpan manner.

"Good to know - do you face paint as well?" Emma replies. She can sense Regina moving beside her, behind her, until the edges of the cloak touch her arms again, there's barely any space between them.

"Just breathe Miss Swan."

"Breathe." Emma repeats, terrified. She can feel energy crackling around them. She can smell the other woman's familiar perfume, mixing with something else, something primal, elemental.

Metallic.

She can feel her skin come alive down the the nerve endings as Regina puts a hand on the younger woman's hip and leans in to whisper in her ear: "Light the candle."

"I can't. I don't know how." It takes a lot to scare Emma Swan, she kinda likes to see herself as a badass, but she had to admit, she was getting there. But there was something else, another emotion undercuts the fear in Emma's belly and it's exhilaration. She sneaks a look sideways and finds her breath catching. Regina is beautiful. She's always know this. But with the other woman beside her, touching her softly, looking at her so intently - this is the first time she sees it.

"Yes, you can. It belongs to you Miss Swan. Magic is your birthright."

"Regina, I don't want to do this." Emma steps away, forcing herself to move apart. She can't think with the other woman so close to her, to her thoughts. Her lips so close to her ear. It was too much. All of it. Too much fear and touching and - "I don't want to and I don't want you to either."

"It's not about you Miss Swan. Once you became Henry's mother it stopped being about you. It's now about him and he needs this from you. We both do. My mother is on her way, if she isn't already here. I can't protect you and Henry from her. Not always. Not forever."

"Yes you can!" Emma argues, craving a sign of the old Regina, Mayor Mills, not this magic-induced woman.

"I need to know that you're ready for it, for her." Regina continues, ignoring Emma's arguments. "I need to know you're armed with something more than that silly toy sword of yours!" Her voice is erratic, but low, trembling with fear. Emma can only wonder at what would terrify the Evil Queen herself to such an extent. The Queen who tore out her father's heart - "I need to know that Henry ... And you ... Are safe." In the moonlight, Emma can see the desperation in the other woman. Her desire to protect her son, but something else as well. A desire to protect her too? Emma can't tell what's real, what's magic and what's the moonlight playing tricks on her.

"Let me teach you," Regina offers, pleads, extending her hand from her black cloak out towards Emma, "Let me protect you. Both of you in the only way I know how!"

Emma looks down at the offered hand. And then up to the face it belongs to. She knows she should think of Henry now, only Henry, but all she can think of, is the woman in front of her. And her lips. Her lips as red as blood. As red as - a cloud passes over the moon, it leaves them in the dark and breaks whatever spell Regina had cast over the moment and allows Emma to breathe. And think, practically and logically.

She knows she can't always count on Regina. She knows she shouldn't even count on her now, but where Henry's concerned, she knows Regina would move heaven and earth to protect the child - whether he wants it or not. If she thinks of Regina as a wild animal, it's a mother bear, claws and teeth ready to tear apart anyone limb to limb who threatened her child. Emma can't help but feel jealous of her son for having a protector like she'd always wanted. But this benevolence of Regina's was a tenuous thing, as delicate as a strand of silk, and perhaps as strong, but it could still snap, and Emma had to be ready for that. She had to know what the other woman was capable of in order to know her better.

"Teach me." She finally agrees, taking Regina's hand and stepping back to their previous position - her back to the shelter provided by Regina's slight shoulders. She feels Regina return her left hand to her waist, the other hovering over her right. "Focus." She begins. "Know that you are borne out of True Love -" Her voice hitches at these words and Emma prepares a swift comeback to the inevitable insult, but it never arrives. Regina simply continues to speak into the other woman's ear like you would speak to a lover, her words softened by the curled ribbons of blond hair. "Every element in the universe came together on the day you were born. The sun and the moon and the wind and earth."

"You would know." Emma mutters, as she tries to lighten the mood, break the intimacy that's being built around them. She doesn't know how, but she can feel Regina smile. "You're right, I would."

"So that makes you how much older than me exactly?" She teases, turning her head to see the woman's response, but she's underestimated the older woman's proximity and finds their lips are inches apart. She can't understand why she wants to kiss the other woman.

She suspects it must be magic.

It has to be.

It has nothing to do with how incredible she looks.

Nothing at all.

She senses the other woman knows what she's thinking. She must be able to hear her heartbeat, see her eyes focused on her lips.

If she does, however, she doesn't act on it, simply smiles as she returns the distracted woman to the task at hand, "The candle, Miss Swan."

"Right," Emma breathes, returning her head to her former position, "The candle."

"You are a part of everything in universe, Miss Swan, and it is all a part of you. Do you know what that means?"

"I should've paid attention in yoga more?"

"It means you're a part of the candle."

"I'm a part of the candle." Emma sighs, trying not to show her annoyance. Believing her parents were Snow White and Prince Charming were one thing - but this...crap... was another.

"Lighting the candle will be no different than rolling your eyes - and we know how good you are at that. Close your eyes Miss Swan."

"Regina - this is bull -"

"This is the first step. If you don't get this, you can't do any of it. Anything. I need you to understand this." Regina fights to keep the frustration out of her voice. "I need you to trust me. Trust that right here, right now, I'll protect you. Now close your eyes."

Emma closes her eyes and immediately feels Regina wrap her slim body against hers. She's shocked that the other woman is actually trying to make her feel safe. Secure. She's shocked she can feel the protection offered by the other woman. Emma's afraid if she opens her eyes the warmth will disappear - she's not ready for that.

"Can you feel the night?" Regina asks, as she sees now that Emma has adjusted to their contact.

"I can feel the darkness."

"Good. Now - can you feel me?"

"...yes." Emma answers eventually. She's having a tough time feeling anything _but_ her.

"There is nothing separating you from me." Regina murmurs into the trusting woman's ear as she slips her free hand into Emma's, their fingers intertwining.

Emma's heart stops beating.

Her lungs stop breathing.

And then it begins - all at once.

The only thing Emma can liken it to is like being shocked back to life. Everything feels different, sharper. She can feel not only Regina's hand in her's but she can feel Regina. She can feel a sensation flowing from the older woman into her, and she can feel sensations leaving her.

She feels everything.

She feels pain.

"Breathe." Regina reminds her - and Emma can't tell if she hears the word or just feels it. "Savor this. Remember this." Regina continues, but Emma feels so much. Too much. Too soon. She can feel the cold moonlight seep into her heart and the darkness against her hair. And Regina. She feels Regina. All of her. Not just her body, her hand, but fear. She can feel power. She can feel love. So much love. More love than she though possible, not just from the Evil Queen, but anyone. So much love it hurt to keep feel. "Breathe." She hears again.

"Regina..." Emma speaks, but refuses to whimper, to exhibit pain. "Make it stop. Make it go away."

"You're doing so well. Don't give up. It'll get better - just think about the candle." She releases her grasp on Emma's hip and wraps a protective arm across the trembling woman's chest, like a lifeguard's grip. "Just focus on the candle -"

"FORGET THE CANDLE!" Emma screams as she pushes away from the other woman - tries to escape the flow of feelings and sensations - but for her slightness, Regina holds on tight and refuses to let go. "Focus on the candle.""

"I can't!" Emma shouts, as she still struggles.

"You can Emma. Move past the darkness. Move past everything until you feel the wax and the wick. Imagine you're crossing the room."

It hurt. It was too much - every nerve ending, every cell in her body was a live wire exposed to the universe at large. And Regina... As long as the older woman held onto her, she could feel waves of pain and love pour into her. She can feel her hand compress in Regina's grip. She can't feel anything but pain. Pain and darkness.

"Do it. For Henry."

Emma hears Regina's voice take on her mayoral tone - threatening and low - but she knows how to react to that. She knows to fight against it and curl her lips into a smirk and throw her shoulders back.

Light.

She feels light. It's so far away but it's there.

And she can feel Regina laugh in her ear. Full of relief and joy and exhaustion and wonder. So near. She drops - or at least feels like it when her guide drops her hand and steps back. Emma feels empty, unplugged. She feels like a shock has just run through her body and has now left it. But she's alive. Empty but alive.

"Open your eyes Miss Swan." It's weird for Emma to hear the words now, instead of feel them, but still she opens her eyes and sees the candle flickering in the far end of the room. "I did it?" She wonders out loud, looking towards her teacher to make sure this isn't a trick.

"You did!" Regina smiles across the darkness to her. More than smiles even. Ever bit of her is humming with joy. Emma has lit the candle - a small, but very necessary first step in protecting Henry, and the town, and yes, protecting the Sheriff as well. "I did! I did it!" Emma's voice rises, "I did it because I'm awesome! We're awesome! ... And I'm exhausted." She lowers herself to the floor, her back against the couch, her eyes closing.

She wakes when she notices a glass of water being placed in her hand, but when she opens her eyes, Regina is still in the same place she'd been standing for the last few minutes. "Did I do that?" She asks, worried her powers are growing quickly beyond her control.

"No dear, you most certainly did not. Now drink up. You're going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow." She watches as Emma drinks the water quickly, half of it ending up on her hoody. "What happened Regina?" She asks when she's gulped everything down. "Magic."

"That felt like more."

"Magic is powerful."

"Obviously." Emma's tired, but not too tired to roll her eyes. "I mean, you even called me Emma. That's pretty serious."

"I don't remember Miss Swan."

"Well I do." She decides not to press her luck. "I felt you."

"I was beside you the whole time."

"No Regina," Emma puts the glass down and looks up, "I felt you. All of you. All this...pain and power and..."

"Miss Swan," Regina began as she starts collecting the odds and ends of their evening together, "With magic - especially magic with _someone_, it's easy to feel like -" She turns around and stops speaking - there's Emma, hovering behind her, having risen silently. Regina prays to the universe that the other woman can't feel her now. She prays the other woman can no longer feel her thoughts, how stunning she thinks her apprentice is, her hair glowing silver and gold in the moonlight, her skin alabaster white like a statue. She can't afford to have these feelings for anyone, let alone Snow's child, the Savior of Fairy Tale Land. She can't afford to develop the weakness of love, or affection, for this, this child - because in every way, Emma, all 29 years of her, is a child compared to her.

Without warning, Emma is touching her hand, touching their lips together in a kiss.

And the world seems to explode for one, brief, eternity.

Love and hate and fear and safety and jealousy and desire - so much desire - flows from one to the other as Emma pushes them, stumbling towards the first surface they can find - the couch. She pushes Regina down and climbs on top of her, straddling her. It must be the magic, the charge built up in them that's forcing this, forcing their hands to roam over the other's body, forcing their fingers to tangle in hair - blond and brown. Regina knows she should stop it, but she can't do anything other than grab a handful of Emma's hair and tug back, so the other woman's neck arches, leaving it exposed for her mouth to work it's way down.

"Is this part of it, Regina?" Emma pants out, her arms resting on the seated woman's shoulders, forcing the words out, trying to pull herself out of this cloud, this fog of emotion. Regina doesn't answer, she just she drags her teeth lightly across the exposed collarbone put forth on display. She stops only when she gets to the hem of Emma's tank top. She hopes this isn't a side effect of Emma's magic. She doesn't want to think the only reason that the other woman could display a desire for her was magic - but she knows better. She knows there's no other way, no other explanation for this behavior. She places a delicate kiss where pale skin meets the white material and closes her eyes. She can feel Emma slide off of her and onto the couch beside her.

"I'm sorry." Regina begins, voice low and quiet, "I should've stopped it."

"Didn't seem like I gave you much of a choice there." Emma laughs awkwardly. "Wait, where are you going?" She asks, as she watches Regina rise from the couch, feeling the cool air around her as if for the first time.

"I should've, I should've known - planned better." Regina began, her back to Emma, trying to organize her disjoined thoughts into a steady stream. The other woman wasn't the only one to experience the exchange of energies and emotions and it was jarring, upsetting, on so many levels to Regina who hadn't felt anything more than hate and rage and pain in years. "It was dangerous to start without you understanding what you were getting into." She turns around to face the other woman, who's now curled up on the couch. "But we don't have time. We just don't - not if you're going to get ready to face my mother."

"But I did good didn't I? I'll get the hang of it." Emma smiles, sleep clouding her eyes, "Won't I?"

"You are the Savior." Regina states. She knows they need to continue, push through the night, every night, if Emma will ever be able to do more than light candles and summon apples. But looking at her, lying there on her couch, looking at her, so like her son, Regina can't help but cave. For the unaccustomed, the initiates, magic is exhausting, overwhelming, They can continue tomorrow. They must.

Against her better judgement, Regina moves to towards the bookshelf and takes out a throw blanket and spreads it over the reclining figure as the candle blows out on its own. "Did you do that Miss Swan?" Regina can't help but ask, terror rising in the back of her throat. If it wasn't, it could - "I told you I'd get the hang of it."

"You are the Savior." Regina repeats, an odd feeling of pride rising up in her chest.

"Now," Emma began, drowsiness slurring her words, "Exactly how much older are you than me?"

"If you must know Miss Swan -" Regina moves to the doorway of the living room, toying with the idea of going to sleep tonight, "I'm 30 years older than you... We share the same birthday. Now good night...Emma." Regina turns and makes her way to the staircase in the dark, pausing only when she hears Emma calling out in the dark "I heard that...Regina." She smiles, because she can, because she's a dying woman who's not dead yet.

Because she can't help herself.

TBC.


	2. The Girl Who Came to Stay

x ~ x

Chapter Two - The Girl Who Came To Stay

x ~ x

x ~ x Some Weeks Prior x ~ x

The first time Emma hears it, she swears it's a dream.

If asked about it later, she would say she felt it more than heard it... The singsongy melody, sweet and wordless.

She was asleep and felt the brush of a breeze float over her body, the cooling sensation bringing some much needed relief to her fevered dreams. Her eyes open and she lets the sounds wash over her without realizing. She lets her breath catch up to her racing mind as she watches the moonlight slide slowly along her walls. Despite what people might think, being the Savior isn't an easy role to slip into, and certainly not an easy one to have thrust upon you like it was in her case. Her nights are constantly filled with dreams about witches and goblins and fairies and wolves. Things her foster parents would tell her were not true, not real. Even Archie would say they were manifestations of her self-conscious but then again, what does he know? He got his degree with the wave of a witch's hand.

The feeling stops, but Emma doesn't realize it. She's distracted by her room plunging into darkness momentarily. She bolts upright and the moment passes. The cloud that eclipsed the moon passes and Emma can feel an almost soothing sensation overtake her from the roots of her hair to the ends. It's a familiar, but distant emotion - but it lets her lie back down and close her eyes.

She swears she can feel that sound again but is too tired, too exhausted to question it...

Perhaps... Tomorrow...

x ~ x

Emma doesn't know much magic except for the old "got your nose" trick, and to be honest, she doesn't want to know more.

As she walks along the fog swallowed waterfront she just wants everything to be before she blew out the candle on her cupcake, before the kid walked back into her life and dragged her here.

She doesn't regret the kid, Henry is amazing and without a doubt the best thing she ever could've done but even she's not stupid enough to claim all of his good as hers, even if everyone else did. Emma knew a large part of Henry and his innate awesomeness was due to the woman who raised him, pushed him, taught him, protected him and even loved him. Not to say Emma didn't realize that Regina also messed the kid up, royally, but she did best with the choices she had. That is something Emma has learned over time - that everyone tries to make the best decision with the information they have. Sometimes it's the wrong one, but they pick the one they think is the best one. No one goes out to actively screw their lives up, no matter what others may think. Regina gave Henry everything she could - Emma believed that.

Emma shivers against the cold wind blowing off the water, but doesn't zip up her jacket. Instead she walks undeterred, determined into the wind. If anyone saw the Sheriff, they'd see her marching with direction, with a destination, but the truth was, Emma had no direction and no destination. Not just today, but every day since her return from Fairy Tale Land. There was always an end goal... Operation Cobra, save Henry, return to Storybrooke - something. But today there was nothing, not even a cat stuck in a tree. She wonders, now that she's alone, truly alone, if she knew what was in store for her here in Storybrooke, would she have stayed? She wonders if Regina had backed off her, would she have felt the pull to stay and spite the other woman, to build a relationship with her son.

She felt something wash over her, something familiar, but distant. She can't put a name to it but she feels it drawing her closer and closer to the edge of the pier. As the fog shifts, she can see a figure in black leaning against the rail. Emma sighs, throws her head back and shakes her arms and blond hair in a silent tantrum. She knows the figure. She can turn back, but there's nothing to go back for. There's nothing to go forward to, either. The familiar feeling that washed over her stops. "Good morning Miss Swan." The voice that greets her is as chilly as the wind that carries it to Emma. "Regina." Emma returns, bridging the distance between the two of them until she's leaning against the wooden rail of the pier, her arms resting on top of them. They stand there, inches and worlds apart, both looking out into the dense fog. Emma eventually sneaks a sideways glance at Regina beside her. She's wrapped in a dark cloak with a hood over her hair. She can't tell it it's a remnant of her Evil Queen days or a reproduction, but it suits her. Her face is flushed and her lips are maroon and set firmly in a line. She looks like a goddess thrown to Earth - and if Fairy Tales are real, if Snow White is her mother, Prince Charming her father and Red Riding Hood her friend, then why can't the Evil Queen be a goddess? She certainly acts like it, her right hand leans over the rail and her hand slowly turns as if conducting an orchestra, or the lives of the townspeople. Emma's eye is drawn down where she sees the murky, dark waters swirling down, down, down like an endless kitchen drain. It feels like something is on the verge of happening, she can practically smell it, feel it on her skin - but it's still too far away. It's like seeing something move in the periphery but when you turn, it disappears. She wonders if Regina can feel it. If that's the reason for the nervous energy rolling off the other woman despite her stoic stillness.

She smirks as she pulls her eyes away and off into the distance. Apparently her return from the far off and magical land messed her up more than she knows if she can _feel_ people's energy and future events. She sighs and crosses her arms. "Nice water show." She comments, nodding her head towards the whirlpool.

Regina says nothing. She stops mid spin and crosses her arms under her cloak. Emma nods, acknowledging Regina's silence. "You said you wouldn't use magic anymore."

"And you said you wouldn't stay, wouldn't take Henry away from me... What can I say Sheriff?" Her lips curl up in an approximation of a sneer, but her voice is exhausted, unable to carry the bite it used to.

"Do you want me to say I'm sorry? I'm not." Emma isn't. She never set out to claim Henry. And she didn't want to take him completely away from Regina. But it was clear that he needed her. Emma turns around and leans against the pier to get a better view.

"I didn't think you were." Regina spins on her heel and for a brief moment Emma can smell Regina's familiar perfume, but with her cloak spinning around her, she can see the Evil Queen of yore. She can see why everyone is afraid of her. Even with an unknown reach of powers - she's still an imposing figure. Regina's hand emerges from beneath her cloak and moves towards her chest - for a moment Emma thinks Regina's aiming for her heart, like mother, like daughter. Rather, she brings together the two pieces of the other woman's open jacket. "Stay warm Sheriff," she says, her lips curling upwards, "It gets cold." With a pat on Emma's breastbone, Regina withdraws her hand and glides off, disappears in a haze of fog and purple smoke, leaving the Sheriff to wonder how much was magic and how much was mist.

x ~ x

It happens again.

She wakes up at night in a panic. Her dream was terrifying but vague. All she can remember was standing on the edge of the pier as the winds blew and lightening lit up the sky revealing Regina, in all of her glory hovering in front of her, leading an army of tidal waves. She remembers waves leaping up towards her, over her, crashing behind her, Regina's mouth opening but hearing nothing but the howling of winds.

She's breathing hard but can't sit up. She's cold but can't bring herself to grab the spare blanket at the foot of the bed. She can't do anything but think about the dream, of Regina's eyes flashing violet and violent. Emma can't help but think she's missing something. She tries to think about the dream, trying to tease out some detail, trying to remember what it was that Regina was shouting at her but she can't make it out.

If only she could focus, if only she could stay awake long enough. She can't help but think the dream means something.

If only she could stay awake.

But the familiar feeling washed over her, reminding her of when one of her foster mothers would stroke her hair as she went to sleep.

x ~ x

When Emma's alarm rang, waking her up, she couldn't help but snuggle deeper into her blankets and her bed.

She didn't even wonder how the extra blanket ended up on her.

TBC.


	3. To Rule the World

x ~ x

Chapter Three - To Rule the World

x ~ x

Regina didn't sleep much, not at night anyways.

Not during the day either.

The only rest she gets is in the blurry edges when day turned into night turned into day again. Even those few harried hours brings nothing but an uneasy sleep spent at her desk, or in her sanctuary. Soon after the curse broke, Regina woke up curled up on Henry's bed, his pillow in her arms. Ever since then, she avoids the upper floor of the house unless absolutely necessary.

She spends the mornings at the pier, bringing the fog forth to provide cover for her; afternoons are spent pouring over spell books, trying to regain her sense of control, her sense of self. Evenings are spent standing watch over Henry. Not that he'd ever know it.

She knows she promised him she wouldn't use magic - but she can't help it. She uses it for his sake. Regina knows her mother will arrive. She can smell magic rolling in on the wind and the waves. She can see the sparkle, the snap in the air that others can't. Being magic, possessing magic is for Regina, almost like being whole again. Magic filled a part of the emptiness inside her. Not all of it, but a part of it. It brought with it a sense of power and protection against the likes of her mother and those who would turn against her. Being without magic in this world was an adjustment - so while the transition was easier for those who didn't remember their lives in any other way than the one Regina had provided for them, she had her memories of what life was like with these people - and she had power of another kind. Like all things in nature, it was a balance - and now that her power was gone as Mayor and mother, her magic returned.

She practices by the pier mostly - boundaries where the elements meet - in this case earth, sky, water - all meet have always been a significant source of power, allowing for the bending, the manipulation of the rules of Nature. It seems Nature is all Regina can manipulate.

Nature is a funny thing - Regina thinks to herself as she gazes down into the grey ocean beneath the pier. Not only the nature of the physical world, but the nature of _something_, of _someone_. Regina knows her mother will not attack the town with weapons or armies, she will attack with a sly stealth because it is in her _nature_, in her blood. Cora will undermine every truth and every good until Storybrooke turns against her daughter. Regina knows her mother's every move because she is her mother's daughter. It is in both of their natures to hurt the ones they claim to love, maybe because it is just that, a claim, not an absolute truth. But Regina knows Nature - it is, after all, the only thing she can manipulate.

She hums wordlessly, soundlessly - her hand drawing slow and lazy circles and swoops above the water. She can feel something change in the air around her. Something familiar. "Good morning, Miss Swan." She doesn't need to turn around. She knows the other woman will join her - if not for anything but sheer boredom, curiosity.

There wasn't much policing to do in Storybrooke on a busy day - even less now that the town was preoccupied with themselves and their returning memories. She hopes that whoever has taken on the task of governance knows what they're doing - but she doubts it. She had spent the last 29 years pouring her energies into keeping the town as picturesque and perfect as any Fairy Tale Happy Ending deserves to be - and she can't help but worry about it now. She used to rule the world, both this one and the last one. Nothing of importance happened that didn't include her. There was nothing she saw that she didn't own or rule or govern. And now she can see nothing - a level of protection against the angry 'villagers' - a blanket of fog and distance to keep herself safe. She shivers as her mind hovers over the thought of what she's lost. She will not think about it - not if she can help it. She's lost so much, too much. If she thinks about it, she will feel the gaping lack in her soul, in her very being, and it will threaten the only thing she cares about now - protecting Henry. It's these thoughts that she's thinking of as the younger woman joins her at the edge of the pier with a quiet "Regina."

She doesn't need to see Emma turn towards her to know she's being looked at - she can feel it and sets her mouth in a firm line. She doesn't like being looked at so... so blatantly - like an animal in a zoo. She's accustomed to a certain level of fear, of respect in the gaze of other people. Emma Swan however has shown little of both in her short time here. Regina continues her work, if you can call it that. Water has always been a difficult element for her to control - to manipulate. Fire and air are easy - to control them you simply become one with them - feel enough rage and hate and anger to move them. Water however, requires a certain level of stillness, patience. Not tranquility, because water is as destructive as fire, but to rule it requires a slow burn if you will. Luckily, Regina considers her time in Storybrooke practice in developing patience. Thirty years ago, she would act quickly and decisively against anyone who dare cross her, but now...

She smiles on the inside, it's true what they had said about developing patience in her old age.

"Nice water show."

Emma's words interrupt her thoughts and Regina draws her arms under her cloak. Suddenly, the chill gets to her and she begins to feel like an animal in the zoo. This is a common feeling around Emma. "You said you wouldn't use magic anymore."

"And you said you wouldn't stay, wouldn't take Henry away from me... What can I say Sheriff?" Her mind reels at the hypocrisy of the other woman but she lacks the energy and the fight she used to have. In her world right now, Emma Swan in an annoyance more than a threat. Her possession of Henry is a blessing - while she could provide him with protection against Cora, Emma can provide him with camouflage and a community in the upcoming battle.

"Do you want me to say I'm sorry? I'm not."

"I didn't think you were." Regina turns sharply towards the other woman - just because she's an annoyance doesn't mean she can't toy with her, does it? Her eyebrow rises and her shoulders straighten slightly - she can feel the regal bearing return to her. She is a Queen after all, isn't she? She slowly draws her hand back out and allows it hover in the air, watching the curiosity in Miss Swan's eyes as she reaches out and brings together the two pieces of her open jacket. "Stay warm Sheriff. It gets cold." She places a hand on Emma's breastbone and lets it linger. Regina is seized with a momentary panic at the thought that she may never touch another person, never feel another beating heart outside of her own. She takes the moment and adds 'touch' to the ever growing list of things she has lost and then removes her hand from Emma's chest and walks away, summoning some fog to hide her exit, hoping the young woman doesn't notice her shaking.


	4. Snow on Snow

**Some notes:**

i. I know it's been a little _moody_ these last few chapters, but it's to set up everything else. _As of the next chapter, the plot really kicks in_.

ii. Chapter 4 contains an appearance from every Swan Queen's favorite form of seating: **BENCH**!

iii. _Thanks so much_ for all the _likes/follows/favorites_ - _it means so much to me!_ As always, if you enjoyed the story this far, please take a second to **review**? They certainly help get me through the writers block :)

x ~ x

**Chapter Four - Snow on Snow on Snow**

x ~ x

_Friday_:

And so it begins, slowly and tentatively. Every morning Regina ends her watch by making her way down to the fog hidden pier. If Miss Swan chooses to appear at the same place she happened to be with coffee to share, that was her choice. She was no longer Mayor - not anymore - and couldn't control all the comings and goings in Storybrooke any longer, could she?

She can feel Emma's presence every morning before she hears or sees her. Apparently even the air in Storybrooke had heard about her Savior status and bows before her. Or at least shimmers.

"Is this what we pay you to do now Sheriff?" Regina asks, taking the coffee from Emma's hand.

"You don't pay me to do anything Madame Mayor." Emma smirks, leaning on the railing of the pier with her cup. "At least not anymore."

"Like hell I don't. I spent the last 29 years making sure this town didn't squander the budget on magic beans. I won't see you and your family ruin all my hard work."

"Are those things even real? Magic beans I mean."

"As real as the town's budget."

"Speaking of the town's budget - think we can spring for a bench? My back's starting to hurt from all this leaning."

"The deadline for proposals for the next fiscal year have long passed Sheriff."

"Of course they have."

A quiet moment passes between them as they sip their drinks. Regina with her black coffee and Emma with her cocoa.

"Why do you do this?" Regina finally asks, her curiosity getting the better of her. She has wondered this and can't quite figure the other woman's motives. She has wondered why she's allowed to live. She has wondered why Emma chooses to spend every morning with her.

"Do what?" Emma asks, only to be rewarded with a withering glare. "Oh...no reason."

"Keeping tabs on your local despots is just part of your job now?"

"Something like that... You know me, I like to keep tabs on all my neighborhood ogres, goblins and wicked witches. It's like 'To Catch a Predator - Wicked Witch edition'"

"Evil Queen dear. Give me some credit - anyone can be wicked, but it takes talent to be truly Evil." Despite her serious tone, a sideways glance reveals the upturned corners of her mouth to Emma.

"A joke? Did Regina Mills, the Evil Queen herself just make a joke?" Emma laughs as she nudges the other woman's shoulder with her own and ignores the spark and shock as they touch.

"Careful who you tell, Miss Swan, I'd hate to see my reputation get tarnished in any way." Regina warns, the threat evident in her voice.

"I bet you would." Emma agrees as she looks away from the woman beside her and out towards the sea.

x ~ x

_Tuesday_:

"Does anyone know about this?" Regina asks, crossing her legs and taking a sip from her cup.

"About what? Coffee? I'm sure one or two people have discovered this amazing brewed beverage." Emma can't help but glance at the bare skin peaking out from the cloak as it pools on either side of the other woman's leg. "Was this bench always here?" She looks around, thankful for the reason to look anywhere but Regina and her legs and confused why Regina and her legs have thrown her today. Or, if she's honest, why it's thrown her at all.

"Your powers of observation are a credit to Storybrooke's illustrious police force Sheriff." But there is a now familiar smirk curls her lips as she takes another sip of the godawful coffee from Granny's.

A moment of silence passes between them as they survey the sea spread out before them. A sense of warmth lingers between their bodies before the ocean air blows it away.

"You're thinking." Emma points out.

"I am."

"Should we be worried?" Emma's only half joking.

"I don't know yet.".

Another moment as they both sip and toy with their cups.

They are both waiting for the other to say something, to start, to spit it out. Regina is familiar with standing her ground, but unlike Emma, she's also learned the strategic value of submission.

"How are you doing?" She finally asks, not looking at the woman to her right. She knows too much concern will be a sign of insincerity.

"Henry's doing a project on space." Emma returns, unsure of where Regina's concern is coming from, and more importantly, where it will lead if she allows herself to believe in it.

"I wasn't asking about Henry, I was asking about you." She knows this ploy - deflection. Emma had many strengths, but tactical strategy wasn't one of them. Her moves are often obvious and clumsy. It stems from her earnestness and her inability to lie well. Besides, Regina had seen Henry's open books at night, had read over his essay and even corrected a word or two. "A world with magic is very different than what you're familiar with. Say, in Boston or Tallahassee. It is, an adjustment." She angles her head to one side to take in Emma's free hand in her lap. "To discover you have magic of your own -"

"I don't have magic!"

"You do, Miss Swan. We all saw it. Crude, but impressive magic." Regina takes a sip, "Reminds me of a younger version of myse-"

"I'm not like you, Regina." The fierceness in her voice surprises them both. "I'm nothing like you."

"You are more like me than it pleases either of us to admit. You may not know how to control your magic, but you do have it."

"I don't have magic and I don't have any more cocoa, or time." Emma counters as she rises. She takes one more look at the bench that she suspects but can't confirm is new before she heads off, away from Regina and her talks of magic.

"I'll be here, Miss Swan." The older woman calls, stopping Emma in her tracks. Neither of them turns to the other. Regina because she knows what she'll see - a young woman she needs to prepare for the battle ahead and Emma because she's afraid of what she'll see - a lonely reflection of herself. "When you're ready."

x ~ x

_Saturday_:

Regina can't believe she actually misses the abysmal coffee from Granny's. Or the company of Emma Swan. She sighs and tries not to pity herself - she once had kings and queens, witches and warlocks as consorts and companions and now she's waiting on her enemy, the Savior, an ill-bred misfit who has taken everything from Regina. There has never been a moment in her life where her masochistic tendencies have been more evident than this. She should leave, she knows she should, but she can't. She knows this is the day the other woman will return to their meeting spot on the docks.

She wraps her cloak around herself - as always, she can feel the other woman's presence before she sees her. "And here I was thinking you were playing hard to get, Sheriff." She takes the proffered cup without a thanks.

"And here I was thinking you liked games, Regina"

"Depends on the game." Regina concedes with a coy turn of her head. She looks up at the other woman, her eyes shining through a fringe of lashes.

"I'm ah, sorry." Emma begins, gripping the rail of the pier and leaning over. She doesn't know why she's apologizing, but much like why she doesn't know why she showed up after three days of swearing she wouldn't, she can't help it - she just knows she needs to be here. "You know for -"

"How are you sleeping, Sheriff?" Regina asks, she knows the answer however, she has seen the restlessness that has kept Emma tossing and turning in the night.

"Fine. Yourself?"

"Very well, thank you."

Silence.

"Is this how it's going to be, You Highness?" Emma asks, "I had hoped for a little more lively company this morning."

"I'm sorry to disappoint, I didn't realize I was expected to be your court jester as well as your mortal enemy."

"You're not my enemy."

"It's a shame, because you're mine." She takes a sip.

"I see." There's a distinct detachment in Emma's voice that intrigues her. She has taken to calling her Emma, at least in her mind. She feels closer to the woman than she has any right to. "It isn't easy, is it Miss Swan?" She asks. Regina suspects the young woman is chaffing at the changes in her world.

"Having a mortal enemy?" Emma laughs, "Not really."

"I meant magic." The conversation is starting to irritate her.

"I don't have magic."

"And we don't have time for this, not anymore." Her voice grows colder with every word.

"What is this Regina?" Emma asks, rising from the bench in frustration. "Because I don't know. I don't know much anymore it seems. About magic and Kings and Queens and being a Savior and a mom and a daughter. None of this is real!"

"Except it IS Ms. Swan and the sooner you accept it, the sooner you will learn how to understand it!" Regina stays seated - drawing power from her regal posture. Emma's tantrum is a waste of energy and she will not squander it.

"I don't WANT to understand it Regina! I just... I don't!" Emma turns around and looks towards the water. It's fall and anywhere else along the Eastern Seaboard, the crispness in the air would mean snow, but here, in Storybrooke... "I just want to go back to the way it was before."

"Well then, you should've thought about that before you barged in here determined to play the white knight. Maybe we all would've been better off without your heroics."

"Christ Regina!" Emma spins to face the Evil Queen, looking every bit of the role the town has cast her in, the fog parting to reveal her dark hair and eyes. "Why are you such a bitch? Even now!"

"I thought you wanted to go back to before, dear." Regina snarls, missing the aggression of their past exchanges. She knows to play this carefully, she needs to use Emma in the most exact ways she can to ensure her cooperation. Too hard and she'll leave, too soft and she'll never believe her. "So let's go back, shall we? Before we were evil Queen and noble knight." She lets the contempt drip from her words.

"I get it, you had a really crappy childhood, I met your mom, I know! You know what though? So did I, so did half of the world, we didn't go out and reign hellfire on everyone!"

No Miss Swan, you just went out and got knocked up at 18. An exemplary life choice that I certainly hope doesn't inspire my son."

"Our son."

"No Miss Swan. My son." She rises now, slowly and surely, power and dominance as evident as if she had her crown atop her head. "You and your family can deny as you all will, but for the first ten years of his life I was the one who calmed every fear, wiped every tear, battled every nightmare, boogie man, monster and bully." She takes determined steps towards Emma until the blonde was pressed up against the rail of the pier. From this distance, Regina couldn't help but deny a certain inborn elegance in the other woman's features. She could see her thoughts flashing beneath her eyes, she could see the determined jutting of her lower lip, quivering slightly. She could so easily stop it with - Regina took a firm step back. No.

"I won't deny it Regina. You are an incredible mother to Henry."

"Were, dear." The words don't choke in her throat as much as she thought they would. "Past tense, like most of my life..." Regina turns around and looks at the vague outlines of the old wood buildings. Even if this world, with it's manufactured past were all from her mind, she cannot help but take comfort at the sight of such old and sturdy structures. Draw strength from their appearance of survival. Appearance was everything, was it not? "Regina, you're life isn't over, it's -" Emma begins to comfort Regina before questioning why. Very little in Storybrooke makes sense to her but she knows that her gut is telling her to go towards the other woman and help her. She knows that in part, Regina's right and Henry is no longer hers alone.

"Not yet, but very soon Miss Swan, I won't be here and there's nothing even the hallowed Savior can do about it." With a raise of her eyebrow, Regina summons the winds to pick up and start blowing around the two of them, bringing forth the cover from the fog and cocooning them together in a safe pocket on the harbour. If she's been cast as the evil queen, she'll play her part with all the splendor she once had in the other world - there was a certain level of respect that her showmanship commanded. "So I need you to hear me, understand me and accept me when I say this: you have magic and the faster you accept it, the faster you can learn to control it and the more faith I will have in you -" She turns around to face Emma and to deliver her final line. This is where she will succeed in luring the Savior Princess to her side, or risk losing everything: "and your ability to keep Henry safe."

She lets the words hang there as Emma takes them in.

"Henry - why do I need to keep Henry safe? From you?" A fire is lit immediately within the blond woman whose hands ball into fists at the thought of her son in jeopardy and suddenly the air changes, grows heavy and charged with something alive. Regina feels Emma's magic surround them and cannot help but smile. Even if Miss Swan doesn't believe in her powers, neither of them can deny them.

"I suggest you calm yourself before you do something rash." She points to Emma's hands, now glowing blue.

"Oh god!" Emma realizes her hands are bathed in an iridescent blue light and begins to shake them, trying to toss the energy off of them, as far away from her as possible. Sparks shower down on Regina like a Fourth of July fireworks display, but still Emma's hands remain blue. "Regina... Make it stop. Make it go away!"

"No. This is where we begin." Regina steps forward and raises her black eyes to calm Emma's frantic panic.

"I don't want to begin anything, I want to stop it - all of it! Magic and you and me and our parents and I want it all to go away! Now!" But with every eager word, the light grows stronger and brighter and Regina cannot help but envy, just a little, Emma's incredible power, raw and untapped as it is. It doesn't match hers in skill, but there's a certain earnestness and purity to it, much the the woman it is emanating from. "If that's the case Miss Swan, I suggest you stop and listen to me. Calm down." She holds her hands out, palms up, towards Emma, in a gesture of peace. "Listen to me. Your magic is tied to your emotions right now - it's where it's drawing power from. The more emotional you get, the stronger it grows. Do you understand?"

"Yeah, yeah!" The blonde bobs her head up and down, "Just help me! Just make it go away."

"Stop." She commands. "Breathe."

"Regina -"

"Are you listening to me dear? I said stop and breathe." The edge of her voice makes it clear this isn't a polite request, but a demand.

Emma closes her eyes and begins to slower her breath, but she still feels her heart racing in her chest as if it was trying to leap out of it's bone cage. She feels like she's just run a marathon, like she's just been scared in a movie, like she's just finished a great round of sex. Oh god, Sex. She hasn't had sex in a very, very long time and at the rate it's going, she wonders if she'll ever have it again. Sex, and the ever present lack of it is what does the trick, forcing her to think about something other than Henry, and magic, and being a savior to too many. Funny how it's the little things that override our common senses. "OK, I'm breathing. I'm breathing Regina. Now make it stop."

"I can't Miss Swan." Regina informs her, her voice calm and still. "First rule of magic and the universe is the law of Energy..."

"This is fascinating, really. I didn't realize you took up teaching in your spare time."

"I can leave you at any time Miss Swan." The other woman threatens, but not even the rustle of her cape as it moves away from her can scare the young woman. "But you won't." Emma tosses back, her eyes still closed. She doesn't know why or how she knows this, just that she does.

"You're right." The rustle of her cape reaches Emma's ears again and this time she feels Regina step closer. "You can't make something turn into nothing - and vice versa -"

"I thought magic was all about the vice versa? Something out of nothing?"

"There's always a cost. Hold out your hands Miss Swan." Emma wordlessly agrees, holding out her hands before her, palms up like she'd seen Regina do earlier. "Think of it like money, always drawing from one account and depositing it in another." She holds out her hands to the unseeing savior, "In this case, you've already made the withdrawal - you just need to choose where to deposit it." Regina reaches out her hands and slips them, palm to palm, over the savior's, over Emma's.

A spark, a charge releases as they connect - not just of mind, or body, but of being. This was different - they could both feel it - Regina grows lighter suddenly and Emma grows more aware of her power and what is at stake. "When you're ready Miss Swan, I want you to think of something that calms you down. Brings you joy."

"Anything?"

"It can be anything - but I remind you, bring a puppy into this world and it's yours to tend to..."

"Got it, no puppies, ponies or unicorns." She misses Regina smile softly at the joke, her eyes are clenched so hard in her efforts to focus on her thoughts.

"You can breathe while you do this, Miss Swan." Regina smirks, seeing Emma's brow knit in frustration.

"Quit smirking at me Regina, it's distracting." Emma mutters, but she takes the advice to heart and slowly releases her long held breath as the other woman wonders how she could've known about the look on her face. Regina contemplates removing her hands but knows she can't. Not yet.

Something small floats by.

Small and white.

Followed by another.

And another.

"You can open your eyes Miss Swan." She murmurs, knowing now she can break their connection safely. She slips her hands away and back under her cloak and steps back, as if that step could break the still present desire for the other woman's skin on her.

For a second, all Emma can see when she opens her eyes is Regina's dark eyes staring out at her. Surrounded by delicate, white snowflakes that have begun to swirl around them until it becomes a snowstorm of their own, contained within the walls of the fog. She can't help but smile, beaming brightly at the other woman - raising her hands up to reveal the normalcy of them. "We did it!"

"You did it." Regina corrects her as she takes a further step out of reach from the blonde. "You did it all Miss Swan."

"I couldn't have done it without you -"

"But you did. Besides, do you really think I'd pick snow to calm you down of all things?" She raises a single eyebrow.

"I've always loved it. A fresh snow fall is like a fresh start. I can't wait to show Henry." She doesn't realize what's she's said, focused so firmly on getting to Henry and building a snowman, and a fort, and having a snowball fight and some cocoa and - "Is it snowing outside? I mean, outside of your fog fortress of solitude?"

"Would you like it to?"

"Uh, yeah! It's kind of hard to have a snowball without snow Regina!" She teases, and misses the sadness in eyes of the witch opposite her.

"Then use your magic. Close your eyes and take your excitement," her voice hitches on the words, but she continues, "Your joy and push it out, spread it out."

So Emma does just that - she remembers every snow day off of school, every snow fort she's ever built with every kid that was ever nice to her, every new scarf and gloves she's ever received, every cup of cocoa with cinnamon and though it's not nearly as many times as it should have been, it's enough to fill her with such love that she can't help but let it radiate out of her until there's nothing left to push out.

And when she opens her eyes, she's alone on the pier in the middle of the snowstorm.

And she can feel a tingle in the air.

The same tingle she feels when she tucks Henry in at night and climbs into her bed. It's a safe feeling. Soothing in the snow.

So she heads home to Henry, ready to have fun.

x ~ x

TBC ...


	5. The Killing Moon

x ~ x

.

Chapter Five - The Killing Moon

.

x ~ x

In starlit nights I saw you

...

The killing moon

Will come too soon

.

x ~ x

.

She doesn't move at first - nothing breaks through her heavy sleep except for the lull of a soft touch through her hair. In fact, it's only when that stops and the mattress shifts beneath her that Emma rouses from sleep and hears Henry's shouts.

.

Bleary-eyed, she rolls out of bed and grabs the first pair of sweatpants she can find and hops down the hall trying not to die as she gets them on. Snow's right, she thinks, living with a child should definitely include rethinking her choice of sleepwear. At least with Snow at Charming's, she didn't feel so bad for the few choice words she let fly as she stubs her toe on the door jamb rounding the corner.

.

She rushes to Henry's body and drops to her knees in the darkened room and tries to wake him from his nightmare. His screams and shouts have stopped, but he still shakes, still calls out his mother's name, not her, but Regina. She can't tell if he's calling out for her or at her - but either way, there's an odd tightening in her chest. "Henry, wake up Kid, you're safe." She murmurs, laying a hand on his forehead and pushing back his sweaty hair. "Kid, wake up. I'm here." Eventually this works and he opens his eyes and looks up at her.

"Is it time to get up?" He asks confused, tired.

"Not yet Kid. You ok?"

"Yeah, you?" He asks as he seats himself up. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh me? Just out for a stroll, thought I'd wake you up."

"Really?"

"No, not really, Kid. You were screaming!" She seats herself on the floor cross-legged so she can look at Henry. Her eyes surprisingly well-adjusted to the inky night around them.

"Oh." He lies back down, on his side so he can look at her. "I don't remember."

"You wanna talk about it?"

"I don't remember."

"You sure?" Emma challenges softly. "It was about your mom."

.

There's a slight breeze in the room, a tingle descending on Emma and Henry both.

.

"It's ok to talk about her you know." She says. "She raised you, and she loves you, and she misses you."

"I know." Henry lets the conversation die.

"Can I tell you a secret?" Emma asks slowly, her voice drops to a whisper. She watches him nod in the dark. "I miss her too sometimes."

"Why?"

"Because I miss when she was Mayor and I was the Sheriff and we spent our days trying to annoy each other. This whole 'savior' thing was a lot easier when it was just stories, you know?" She asks.

"I miss my room." He whispers to her. "Every morning she'd kiss me on my forehead before she would wake me up." It's not until he brings a hand to his cheek does Emma realize he's crying. "I would pretend to be asleep 'cause you know, it's..."

"Embarrassing?" Emma smiles.

"Kinda, but I miss it."

"I miss how she'd just drop a stack of papers on my desk and made me re-do them all."

"I miss how she'd make my favorite lunch on gym class days. I hate gym."

"I know."

"This is going to be my first birthday without her." He says softly, turning on his back so he can look up at the ceiling.

"No it won't be - she'll be there. I promise." It hits her that this will be the first birthday she can spend with her son. Truly spend with him - and while part of her doesn't want to share him, she doesn't want him to be sad on that day.

"You can't though."

"I kind of can. White Knight, Product of True Love. I can kind of do whatever I want. I'm kind of a big deal." She mock brags to her son.

"You can't promise that though. My dream..." He starts, and Emma can see his hand toying with the sheets. "My dreams aren't really dreams - they're going to come true. They always do."

"Like you can see the future? If so, I got some lottery numbers I need picked."

"Em-ma." He groans, "Not like that. It's like, I knew you needed to come to Storybrooke, I had a dream. And I knew my mom was the Evil Queen, 'cause it was a dream too. And same with Snow and Charming, and the Curse breaking and..."

"And?" She encourages him, not because she believes in it, but because she knows he needs to get it out.

"And mom's going."

"Where? She can't really go far, can she?"

"I don't know - I just know I see her, and she's not mom. She's the Evil Queen again - and she's lonely and she's far away, like, castles and moats far."

"Scotland far?" She jokes."

"Really Emma?" He chides, and for a moment, it seems like he's far more Regina's than hers.

"Listen Mayor Mills." She teases, "No matter what she does, or where she goes, if she lives in her house or her castle, she'll always be your mom. And so will I. Kind of like a package deal."

"A White Knight and the Evil Queen."

"No kid, two moms who love the mess outta you. Now, if you don't mind, you've got some very important sleeping to do - and so do I." She hauls herself up off the floor and drops a kiss on her son's forehead like his mother used to do, then drags herself back to her room for some sleep. Mother and Son are both too tired to question the tingle that hangs in the air all around them.

.

x ~ x

.

The morning goes about as smoothly as last night - with Emma waking up to a call on her cell from Snow asking why Henry wasn't in school... A quick scramble for clothes, keys and kid and they're on their way.

.

Even Ruby recognizes Emma's frazzled state when she walks into the diner. "Kinda late, aren't we Em?" The waitress teases as she pulls out two to-go cups and begins to fill one with coffee while the hot chocolate machine sputters to life behind her. "Don't know what you're talking about Rubes." Emma responds as she tries not to eye to clock behind her friend's head. "I'm sure her Highness won't like to be kept waiting for her coffee." Ruby smirks as she stirs in the cinnamon into Emma's cup and tops it with cream. This is the first time she's mentioned Regina, or the fact that every weekday morning Emma Swan walks in from taking Henry to school, grabs two drinks and leaves. "I don't, I don't know what you're talking about... Are you ok?" The blonde tries to play it off as she slips a couple of bills on the table and grabs the drinks. "Sure you don't. Just - be careful, OK?" Her friend asks as she deposits the cash into the register. "People like that, you can't trust them."

"People like what, Ruby?" Emma challenges, her back a little straighter, her chin a little higher. "Evil people?" Of all the people in the town, Ruby was the last she'd expect this blanket judgement from.

"No Em. Wounded people. It's all fight or flight - and either way, someone gets hurt. Trust me." Her eyes project a myriad of emotions: loss, wisdom, pain, conflict - but not the judgement or superiority or vengeance that Emma had grown accustomed to seeing. No, everything in her told her Ruby was honestly worried about both her friend and the former Queen. With a smile and a nod that shows she understands, Ruby turns back to wiping the counters down.

.

Emma stops short as she reaches the artificial boundary of fog and mist that Regina calls forth to protect and hide herself - she doesn't know why she's rushing. It's not like she's been at the pier and missed the former Mayor before. Now that the spell is broken, Regina's got a lot less evil doing and nagging to accomplish. With a deep breath, Emma takes a step into Regina's world and lets the feeling of safety wash over her. She can't believe that the only place she feels safe is, in fact, with the Evil Queen herself, but there you have it. It rolls over her whenever she steps in, like a warm blanket on a cold day. It's familiar, tingling as if Regina is commanding every atom, every molecule in the air and around them to be alert, vigilant against any danger or harm. She feels it growing stronger and stronger every day, she feels it when she goes to bed, and when she wakes and when she... When she sees Regina.

.

Her mind races, her heart drops and color rises to her cheeks in a matter of seconds as she begins to piece together parts of Regina's unknown whole. Regina has been there, at the loft, or at least has enchanted or cast a spell or done some sort of magic voodoo to it. The question is why?

.

Emma's first instinct is to run, but there's nowhere to run to. Regina will find her. She needs to be smart about this, she needs to figure out the other woman's motive, her plan... She needs to tread carefully. Ruby's words resonate within her and Emma herself knows what people who are trapped are capable of. She takes a calming breath and moves towards the edge of the pier where she can see Regina, wrapped in a wine colored cape as she leans on the rail, very much like their first time meeting here. "How you can make that get up work without looking like you escaped from a Renn fair is beyond me." Emma calls out, steadying her voice as she holds out the cup of coffee.

"I take it it's a complement, Miss Swan?" Regina responds, her lips curl up to a smile - but Emma sees that doesn't quiet make it to her eyes, hidden by the shadow of her hood.

"It is indeed." Emma takes a sip and lets her eyes travel down to the water that's still swirling beneath them. "How are you doing that?" She asks, "I mean, you're drinking so you're not casting a spell. Are you?" She can't help herself for being a little curious. Everyone assumes, now that the curse has broken, that the last 29 years of her being on the outside no longer matter, no longer count. But in many ways, she's still a tourist here in Storybrooke.

"You're right, I'm not casting a spell."

"So what are you doing?"

"Elements are like people, susceptible to being charmed. I'm simply asking the water to spin, and it's obliging me."

"Why?" Emma asks, unable to understand. "It doesn't have to - unless you've enchanted it - right?"

"Have they taught the Princess nothing of magic?" Regina teases as she turns away from the younger woman and beckons the water to rise in a swirl. "Come closer." She commands, and for a moment, Emma isn't sure if she's talking to the water or her. "I would've hoped by now, Miss Swan, you'd have enough reason to trust me." The Evil Queen comments as she makes a gentle motion with her hand and returns the ocean back to its place beneath them.

"Why did you stop Regina?" Emma leans against the pier, her back to the wide openness and instead watches the regal woman beside her. "I was listening."

"Maybe later." Regina turns and moves towards the bench - Emma watches as she struggles to pull the fabric over every inch of her exposed skin.

.

A moment passes between them before one of them cracks. "How did you sleep Regina?"

"Like a baby," She shoots back, "Yourself?"

"The same."

"Well I'm glad we established that."

"Yup."

"My, such scintillating conversations we're having today Miss Swan."

"I'd like to think so." Emma agrees straight faced as she steps forward. "Take off your hood."

"No." The words are out of Regina's mouth almost before Emma finishes her request.

"Fine." The younger woman shrugs - then reaches out a hand and pushes back the hood of the cape herself before she can be stopped. Regina dips her head down instantly and then takes a breath and then raises her brown eyes to meet Emma's green.

.

Regina's eyes don't glisten with the usual fire or fight that lights them, but the challenge to dare confront her is still present. Emma can see the deeply etched bags under the eyes, the pale grey pallor of skin that hasn't had enough light or enough sleep, the soft shake, the tremor of her hand as she rests it on her knee. These aren't the aftereffects of one or two nights, the other woman knows that these have been building up each night - her old life taught her as much. "Slept like a baby did we?" Emma murmurs as she sits down beside the other woman and starts to warm up Regina's shaking hands in hers, ignoring the curious spark that lights whenever she touches her. Nerves. "How long have you been watching us?" She asks, slowly rubbing her hands against and along Regina's. She doesn't look up, knowing she's likely to get more honest answers if she gives the other woman space and time to feel safe. Ruby is right, people and animals alike will do anything when they feel trapped. "Almost since you and Snow came back."

"About for that," Emma responds. "I don't think I ever thanked you for that." She stops rubbing the hands, but still clasps them within hers.

"I did it for Henry, Miss Swan." Regina removes her hands and instantly regrets the loss of warmth as she buries them in her lap.

"Either way, thank you. Although I gotta ask -"

"Why?"

"How." Emma lies. She excuses it to herself by saying it's the only way to get the truth from Regina, and it very well may be. "The Blue Fairy said the wards she cast were unbreakable ones."

"Well, maybe they are for The Blue Fairy, " The Evil Queen's lips curve upwards in spite of her exhaustion and her reserved air this morning. "I am not the Blue Fairy. You never saw me at my best, my strongest, have you dear?" Her back straightens, her chin rises, she is reminded that despite her current situation, she was once, and still is the Queen. Evil or not, she is still more powerful and more in control than anyone else. It's these small victories she has to cling to at 4 am if she wants to protect her son. "You have no idea what I'm capable of..."

"I kind of have an idea, remember? Curses from one dimension to the next?"

"That was only one example..." Her eyes begin to glow an inky purple and the winds begin to pick up around them. Emma lays a hand on Regina's thigh until the winds die back down and her eyes return to normal. "You know, when I first met you, I wondered _all the time_ why you were wound so tight, why you never relaxed and let loose..." She lets the comment taper off. She sees now the necessity, the need. "Why are you watching us?" Emma finally asks.

"Henry. Why am I watching Henry. To protect him." Regina corrects her. She straightens her cape around her shoulders and rises. As evil and terrifying as she may have been in full Evil Queen Regina force, she must have also been impressive. Not that she'd ever admit it. "You're smirking at me." the Queen points out, an eyebrow raised in amusement.

"I am." Green eyes meet brown - battling for some unknown claim. Apparently _everything_ between the two women was a challenge of wills, a test of strength and determination. "What do you know about my Mother, Miss Swan?" Regina finally asks, crossing her arms. "I know she's a crazy bitch that makes you look almost...pleasant." Emma tosses off. "Crazy Bitch, as you called it, doesn't even begin to describe it." Regina pauses to consider the best way of proceeding. "Have you heard of me, everything I've done?"

"Ripping hearts out is a definite point of conversation around you, yes." Emma raises a hand unconsciously to her chest, to cover her own.

"That's just the start of it. Everything you've heard about the legend of the Evil Queen, it doesn't measure up to the truth of Cora Mills' evil - and she's coming to Storybrooke."

.

There is no dropping of Regina's voice, no chill, no shudder, no tears - Regina may as well have stated the town was in Maine, or the ocean was made of water. There was no sentiment, no horror of her mother's, or even her own atrocities. That was what scared Emma the most - the matter of factness, the inarguable truth that terrified her. "How do we stop her?" Emma asks.

"We don't, Miss Swan. We simply give her what she wants." Regina turns to the ocean and leans on the pier. She tries not to think about the time she and Daniel dreamed about running away to the lighthouse.

"Well - what does she want?"

"Me."

"You can't be serious..." There's a look of disbelief, almost of relief, that washes over the younger woman's face. Regina doesn't need to see it to know it's there. She can feel it - she wishes she didn't, but she does.

.

Not even the savior will miss her when she goes.

.

x ~ x

.

When Regina opens the door, Henry was the absolute last person in the world she expects to be on the other side. But there he is - in dirty jeans and an unzipped jacket she fights from closing against the wind and his head down, kicking at the toe of one sneaker with another. Emma is behind him, a hand on his shoulder - in part to reassure him and in part to keep him from running. "Can we, uh...come in?" Emma finally asks when she realizes that Regina is staring at Henry in disbelief.

"Yes, absolutely." She all but trips over herself to move out of the way for her son.

"Aren't you going to say 'hi' Henry?" Emma prompts as she guides him in.

"You don't have to -" Regina begins - it's for both of them. She sees the obvious unhappiness being back here is bringing Henry, and while she appreciates Emma's attempts, misguided as they are, they won't help her son love her again. She bites the inside of her lip at the thought. He did love her once, didn't he?

.

"Kid, why don't you go upstairs to your room?" Emma suggests as she closes the door behind her, and like a shot, he takes off, leaving the two of them alone in the awkward silence that is Regina's foyer. "I can't believe you're wearing that..." Emma chuckles to herself as she tilts her chin in the other woman's direction. "Wearing what?" Regina asks, looking down at her grey tailored dress and heels. "What's wrong with what I'm wearing?"

"Nothing's wrong - just... You're still dressing like the mayor when..."

"When what, Miss Swan?"

"If anyone else was in your situation, they'd be curled up on the couch in sweatpants and yesterday's make up."

"And what situation is that, Miss Swan?"

"Dethroned despot-slash-Queen awaiting an appearance from her evil mother, Miss Mills."

"I didn't know you knew many dethroned despot Queens awaiting extradition in which to base your judgements on."

"I've known a few in my time." Emma shrugs as she shoves her hands in her pockets. "Boston's a pretty odd city at times." She jokes with a deadpan delivery. "Now, how about living up to your hospitable reputation and offer me a drink."

.

They sit across from one another at the kitchen table and sip their coffee silently. "He really did miss you." Emma says softly.

"Did I ever tell you about the time I broke my wrist?" Regina asks, setting down her coffee.

"No..." She's not sure how the two are connected.

"Henry was 5 and I was gardening out back while he played in the dirt - and before you feel the need to indulge in a smart-alec comment, yes I allowed my son to play in the dirt. Don't think I don't see you smiling behind your cup Miss Swan."

"Sorry."

"No you're not."

"You're right. I'm not." Emma sticks her tongue out at the older woman in front of her.

"As I was saying, Henry was playing and the next thing I know, he had climbed up the apple tree outside. He's always has your knack for getting into where he shouldn't. I remember looking up and seeing him wave from above me... I guess I panicked and dropped everything to climb up the tree and help him."

"He got down, I guess, otherwise we'd have a son in a tree." The younger woman cracks a joke, trying to wonder where this was going.

"He didn't need my help." Regina confessed, "He climbed down and ran off to his toy animals and I tumbled out of the tree, crushing my wrist." Regina toys with the handle of her cup. "It's always been that way between Henry and myself - he doesn't need my protection, but it won't stop me."

.

Emma thinks about it, Regina's story, so hard in fact she doesn't hear the other woman mutter softly, "I can still tell you when it's going to rain with my wrist."

.

"Tell me you have a plan Regina." Emma nearly begs, when it hits her. Cora Mills, who made Joan Crawford look like a contender for 'Mother-of-the-Year', who created this damaged monster in a woman's body before her and made Regina's reign of heartless bodies scattered between two dimensions look like child's play was coming. She knew this wasn't one of Regina's lies or ploys, she could feel it in her gut the same way she could feel that the leftover sushi was a bad idea back in Boston - with a slight rumble and shift. She also knew that she wasn't up to deal with it, not on her own anyways. She had slain a dragon, traveled to strange and magical lands, rescued a son, become a mother and a daughter and a hero, but vanquishing the monster behind the Evil Queen? This wasn't a matter of heart, or spirit, or determination - this was pure, senseless evil. She's lost in this ocean of self-doubt when Regina finally speaks, her voice parting the thoughts as clearly and as easily as she would make the waves dance at the pier: "Of course I have a plan Miss Swan. I'm going to give her exactly what she wants. Not immediately, of course, she'll get suspicious, but eventually I'll have to return back with her."

"But why?" In her question, Emma sounds very much like their son wondering about his bedtime, or the importance of wearing matching socks and clean underwear.

"Because Miss Swan, I couldn't kill her when I had the opportunity, it was weakness on my part and I own it. Now I have to correct it."

"So you're going to kill her? None of this is making sense Regina. Then again, nothing you do makes sense to me." Emma pushes her chair back and begins to pace along the kitchen floor like a trapped animal.

"That's a lie and you know it Miss Swan." Regina remains seated as she sips her coffee. "I'm going back because she needs my powers, and if she doesn't get them, or get me, she will take it out on this town and everyone in it, and while for the most part, I could care less, there are one or two people here that I would rather not see burned to the ground. Now, if you were smart, you'd pack up your silly jackets and our son and leave town. Then again, I've always wondered how you manage to dress yourself in the morning, so I suspect you'll foolishly stay here and fight. No, I will return with her to our land - I can contain her there."

"For how long?"

"Long enough." No mention of the word forever.

"You're crazy Regina-" She tosses her arms in the air, "That's practically suicidal!"

"Don't kid yourself Miss Swan, that's exactly what it is."

"Come on, you can't be as calm as you're acting now." Emma settles herself back on a chair, legs sprawled out towards the other woman.

"Of course not. You've only heard about my mother, I've lived through her. But being terrified won't accomplish anything." She raises her head to see a look of concern in the other woman's eyes. "What? Do I have something on my face Miss Swan?"

"You don't seem terrified. In fact," The younger woman asks, her voice at a near whisper. "I don't think I've ever seen you terrified, except when Henry ate -" Things started falling into place, the earlier comments, the hovering and protecting, the plea to leave. "What will she do to Henry?"

"Anything she wants, which is why we can't let her get to him." She reaches out and desperately latches out onto the other woman's wrist which is laid out on the table. "You can't let her touch a hair on his head, I mean it Emma. If she does, it's over, because I will do anything she wants at that point and I will not apologize for it." The panic causes her voice to rise and quiver, if Emma wanted to see the evil Queen terrified, here it was. "This is where you come in - I need to know you'll be able to protect Henry, you'll be able to keep him safe and away from her. And the only way I know how is magic. Your magic."

"No, Regina -"

"Your choices are to learn, Miss Swan, or to watch everyone suffer at her hands. Remember, this was the woman that made me in her image. The only difference is she doesn't have the capacity for regret or remorse."

.

Emma mulls this whole exchange over in her mind as she toys with an imaginary crumb on the table. This could all be a trap or a trick of Regina's to lure her to magic, or capture magic, or do something suitably ridiculous and Regina-ee. On the other hand, she had met Cora, had felt her hand wrap around her heart and tug and squeeze as hard as she could. She knew her survival at the hand of Cora Mills was the exception and not the rule.

.

She looks up at the woman across the table from her and watches now, openly, as if this will force Regina to confess her plots and ploys if she has any. "We have to tell Henry." Emma states, not wanting to lie to her son, too many people have lied to him about things his whole life. "No." Regina responds, because to her, this is non-negotiable.

"Regina -"

"Do you even KNOW who we're talking about? We're talking about a boy who stole his teacher's card and ran to Boston to bring a grown woman, a stranger back - and convinced her that she was the daughter of Prince Charming and Snow White."

"But I was -"

"Yes, but how ludicrous does that all sound? And how determined was he? Do you really think that by telling Henry his Grandmother is coming to Storybrooke with a villainous plan of Other World domination will end in any way other than him trying to vanquish her?"

"But... But..." Emma stutters, knowing she's been beat by logic. "I hate when you do that." She mutters.

"What?"

"Be right." She twists her face into an exaggerated form of petulance, a slight swell of pride in her chest when she sees the other woman duck her head to hide a smile. "You should do that more-" Emma juts her chin out towards Regina, "Smile."

"I don't often have much to smile about Miss Swan."

"There's always something, Regina. If anyone can go toe-to-toe with you over awful childhoods, it's me." The other woman simply turns this thought over in her mind to examine it. "Do you ever wish you had, you know, a normal childhood?" Emma continues, interrupting the older woman's thoughts. "Or whatever passes for normal over there in the land of dragons and magic?" Regina is about to snap a response back about the juvenility of that question, when she sees Emma, really sees her. Her face is turned up like a child, like her child, their child, and the child that she never got to be and what little is left of Regina's heart breaks a little more. It's in that moment of weakness that all the love Regina held within her body and her broken heart for Henry grows to encompass this woman before her, his mother. She hates herself for it, for this swell of emotion that has lodged itself in her chest because it will make her final days that much harder, it will remind her that she is well and truly alone. Of course it would happen, that the Savior would be the one that would crush her with nothing more than a question, with quivering lip and upturned green eyes that looked at her as if she held all the answers to all the questions in the universe. Compared to Emma, she does.

.

Suddenly, Regina feels every single one of her sixty some odd years.

.

"We can't rewrite time Ms Swan. I can't. I always tried to give Henry what I didn't have. What I suspect we never had. Until Snow gave him that damned book of his. And he was happy enough. That's enough for me." Her sentences are short, direct and terse. She doesn't want to dwell on any of the past, there's enough misery in her future as it is.

.

Emma can feel a change in the air, as if she was breathing in and out Regina's very being, her energy, if you could call it that, until it stops with her last words and she's left breathing just air again. She can't help but feel that something significant happened and she missed it. It was a common feeling here in Storybrooke - and not for the first time, Emma misses Boston and the real world. "So," She claps her hands in false excitement, trying to shake the lingering feelings out of her system, "You're going to teach me magic in hopes that that's enough to stop the Wicked Witch? Because if that's the whole plan, I gotta say, I expected a little more from the Great and Powerful Oz." She smirks at Regina in an effort to lighten the mood, waiting to see what the response will be.

"I'm sorry to disappoint dear, but he was a little man behind the curtain, and I'm just a woman puttering about in an empty house, but who knows?" She raises a hand and with a wave, their cold coffee cups disappear before she lands her hand unconsciously to her breast, her lips pulling up and back in a smile. "Who knows what else I have up my sleeve?"

.

TBC.


	6. Repost - Don't Look At The Moon Tonight

The Night Will Always Win

By ithinkyourewonderful

Disclaimer: Not mine, never was, never will be...

Rating: PG-13 (Language)

Placement: Set between "Queen of Hearts" and "The Cricket Game" (IE - Emma and Snow are back, and Cora's well on her way but not here yet.)

Summary: Post-Curse - Regina has a bold plan to protect Henry, but can Emma trust her? Especially when it means learning from the Evil Queen herself?

x ~ x

Chapter One - Don't Look At The Moon Tonight

x ~ x

"What is it like?" Emma asks. She figures she should take advantage of the darkened room. Of Regina's odd mood. She might be rewarded with an answer - or punished by being flung across the room. Again.

"What's what like, Miss Swan?" the regal woman asks, as she tosses off the hood of her cloak.

"Magic." Emma answers as she watches Regina move around the room but trying to stay in the shadows. It's as if the other woman was afraid of the moonlight streaming in through the windows. The moon seems brighter lately, fuller, if that's possible - but Emma can't tell if it's because she's seeing it seemingly for the first time, after their return from Fairy Tale Land, or what.

"I thought you were here to learn how to protect Henry against Cora, Miss Swan, not to play twenty questions." Regina kneels at the bookshelf and reaches for something.

"Magic is all Cora has, Regina." Emma explains. "If we're gonna protect Henry, I want to know all I can about her." And about you, Emma finishes the thought in her head.

Emma doesn't know if she can trust Regina, not fully. She knows she won't hurt Henry, not willingly - but this was also the woman who ripped out her own father's heart. _Literally_ reached in and removed it in an act of pain. This was clearly a woman who wasn't in control of her own actions when her emotions were involved. If she had to, she would say she trusts Regina about as much as she trusts a wild animal. But she wants to. She wants to trust her. It's not just to have someone who shares the fear over Henry's safety, or to guide her through the upcoming battle, or even because she's the Savior. No, she wants to trust Regina because she needs to have someone who understands her, and despite the snide and snarky comments - Emma knows Regina understands her. All of her. Because she understands the older woman like she's never understood anyone else.

It scares her.

It scares Emma to know she understands the older woman who condemned an entire world to suffer alongside herself.

"It's like being at one with the universe." Regina begins, her voice low, reminding Emma of the hushed tones used in churches. She rises from the ground and crosses the room, her cloak brushing Emma's arm as she passes. In the dark, Emma can't tell if she's gliding or hovering. "Once you use magic, it's like you're at one with the universe. Every atom of mine can feel every atom of yours. It becomes a part of the apple tree outside, the pages of Henry's books, the wind and the waves and the birds and the stars and the sky. There is a one-ness, a sense of belonging, when you use magic." A flame appears, a candle burning in the dark - no match in sight. In the warm glow, Regina's skin shines like bronze, her eyes hooded and dark with magic and emotion and power and god knows what else. She places the candle on the fire place mantle and crosses back towards Emma until they're nearly side by side. "Take the candle. There is no boundary between my body, my mind, the air around us, or the flame. We're all one." As if on cue, the flame goes out, leaving them in the familiar cold of the moonlight.

"Nice parlor trick." Emma mutters on edge.

"I am available for children's birthday parties." The other woman delivers in a deadpan manner.

"Good to know - do you face paint as well?" Emma replies. She can sense Regina moving beside her, behind her, until the edges of the cloak touch her arms again, there's barely any space between them.

"Just breathe Miss Swan."

"Breathe." Emma repeats, terrified. She can feel energy crackling around them. She can smell the other woman's familiar perfume, mixing with something else, something primal, elemental.

Metallic.

She can feel her skin come alive down the the nerve endings as Regina puts a hand on the younger woman's hip and leans in to whisper in her ear: "Light the candle."

"I can't. I don't know how." It takes a lot to scare Emma Swan, she kinda likes to see herself as a badass, but she had to admit, she was getting there. But there was something else, another emotion undercuts the fear in Emma's belly and it's exhilaration. She sneaks a look sideways and finds her breath catching. Regina is beautiful. She's always know this. But with the other woman beside her, touching her softly, looking at her so intently - this is the first time she sees it.

"Yes, you can. It belongs to you Miss Swan. Magic is your birthright."

"Regina, I don't want to do this." Emma steps away, forcing herself to move apart. She can't think with the other woman so close to her, to her thoughts. Her lips so close to her ear. It was too much. All of it. Too much fear and touching and - "I don't want to and I don't want you to either."

"It's not about you Miss Swan. Once you became Henry's mother it stopped being about you. It's now about him and he needs this from you. We both do. My mother is on her way, if she isn't already here. I can't protect you and Henry from her. Not always. Not forever."

"Yes you can!" Emma argues, craving a sign of the old Regina, Mayor Mills, not this magic-induced woman.

"I need to know that you're ready for it, for her." Regina continues, ignoring Emma's arguments. "I need to know you're armed with something more than that silly toy sword of yours!" Her voice is erratic, but low, trembling with fear. Emma can only wonder at what would terrify the Evil Queen herself to such an extent. The Queen who tore out her father's heart - "I need to know that Henry ... And you ... Are safe." In the moonlight, Emma can see the desperation in the other woman. Her desire to protect her son, but something else as well. A desire to protect her too? Emma can't tell what's real, what's magic and what's the moonlight playing tricks on her.

"Let me teach you," Regina offers, pleads, extending her hand from her black cloak out towards Emma, "Let me protect you. Both of you in the only way I know how!"

Emma looks down at the offered hand. And then up to the face it belongs to. She knows she should think of Henry now, only Henry, but all she can think of, is the woman in front of her. And her lips. Her lips as red as blood. As red as - a cloud passes over the moon, it leaves them in the dark and breaks whatever spell Regina had cast over the moment and allows Emma to breathe. And think, practically and logically.

She knows she can't always count on Regina. She knows she shouldn't even count on her now, but where Henry's concerned, she knows Regina would move heaven and earth to protect the child - whether he wants it or not. If she thinks of Regina as a wild animal, it's a mother bear, claws and teeth ready to tear apart anyone limb to limb who threatened her child. Emma can't help but feel jealous of her son for having a protector like she'd always wanted. But this benevolence of Regina's was a tenuous thing, as delicate as a strand of silk, and perhaps as strong, but it could still snap, and Emma had to be ready for that. She had to know what the other woman was capable of in order to know her better.

"Teach me." She finally agrees, taking Regina's hand and stepping back to their previous position - her back to the shelter provided by Regina's slight shoulders. She feels Regina return her left hand to her waist, the other hovering over her right. "Focus." She begins. "Know that you are borne out of True Love -" Her voice hitches at these words and Emma prepares a swift comeback to the inevitable insult, but it never arrives. Regina simply continues to speak into the other woman's ear like you would speak to a lover, her words softened by the curled ribbons of blond hair. "Every element in the universe came together on the day you were born. The sun and the moon and the wind and earth."

"You would know." Emma mutters, as she tries to lighten the mood, break the intimacy that's being built around them. She doesn't know how, but she can feel Regina smile. "You're right, I would."

"So that makes you how much older than me exactly?" She teases, turning her head to see the woman's response, but she's underestimated the older woman's proximity and finds their lips are inches apart. She can't understand why she wants to kiss the other woman.

She suspects it must be magic.

It has to be.

It has nothing to do with how incredible she looks.

Nothing at all.

She senses the other woman knows what she's thinking. She must be able to hear her heartbeat, see her eyes focused on her lips.

If she does, however, she doesn't act on it, simply smiles as she returns the distracted woman to the task at hand, "The candle, Miss Swan."

"Right," Emma breathes, returning her head to her former position, "The candle."

"You are a part of everything in universe, Miss Swan, and it is all a part of you. Do you know what that means?"

"I should've paid attention in yoga more?"

"It means you're a part of the candle."

"I'm a part of the candle." Emma sighs, trying not to show her annoyance. Believing her parents were Snow White and Prince Charming were one thing - but this...crap... was another.

"Lighting the candle will be no different than rolling your eyes - and we know how good you are at that. Close your eyes Miss Swan."

"Regina - this is bull -"

"This is the first step. If you don't get this, you can't do any of it. Anything. I need you to understand this." Regina fights to keep the frustration out of her voice. "I need you to trust me. Trust that right here, right now, I'll protect you. Now close your eyes."

Emma closes her eyes and immediately feels Regina wrap her slim body against hers. She's shocked that the other woman is actually trying to make her feel safe. Secure. She's shocked she can feel the protection offered by the other woman. Emma's afraid if she opens her eyes the warmth will disappear - she's not ready for that.

"Can you feel the night?" Regina asks, as she sees now that Emma has adjusted to their contact.

"I can feel the darkness."

"Good. Now - can you feel me?"

"...yes." Emma answers eventually. She's having a tough time feeling anything _but_ her.

"There is nothing separating you from me." Regina murmurs into the trusting woman's ear as she slips her free hand into Emma's, their fingers intertwining.

Emma's heart stops beating.

Her lungs stop breathing.

And then it begins - all at once.

The only thing Emma can liken it to is like being shocked back to life. Everything feels different, sharper. She can feel not only Regina's hand in her's but she can feel Regina. She can feel a sensation flowing from the older woman into her, and she can feel sensations leaving her.

She feels everything.

She feels pain.

"Breathe." Regina reminds her - and Emma can't tell if she hears the word or just feels it. "Savor this. Remember this." Regina continues, but Emma feels so much. Too much. Too soon. She can feel the cold moonlight seep into her heart and the darkness against her hair. And Regina. She feels Regina. All of her. Not just her body, her hand, but fear. She can feel power. She can feel love. So much love. More love than she though possible, not just from the Evil Queen, but anyone. So much love it hurt to keep feel. "Breathe." She hears again.

"Regina..." Emma speaks, but refuses to whimper, to exhibit pain. "Make it stop. Make it go away."

"You're doing so well. Don't give up. It'll get better - just think about the candle." She releases her grasp on Emma's hip and wraps a protective arm across the trembling woman's chest, like a lifeguard's grip. "Just focus on the candle -"

"FORGET THE CANDLE!" Emma screams as she pushes away from the other woman - tries to escape the flow of feelings and sensations - but for her slightness, Regina holds on tight and refuses to let go. "Focus on the candle.""

"I can't!" Emma shouts, as she still struggles.

"You can Emma. Move past the darkness. Move past everything until you feel the wax and the wick. Imagine you're crossing the room."

It hurt. It was too much - every nerve ending, every cell in her body was a live wire exposed to the universe at large. And Regina... As long as the older woman held onto her, she could feel waves of pain and love pour into her. She can feel her hand compress in Regina's grip. She can't feel anything but pain. Pain and darkness.

"Do it. For Henry."

Emma hears Regina's voice take on her mayoral tone - threatening and low - but she knows how to react to that. She knows to fight against it and curl her lips into a smirk and throw her shoulders back.

Light.

She feels light. It's so far away but it's there.

And she can feel Regina laugh in her ear. Full of relief and joy and exhaustion and wonder. So near. She drops - or at least feels like it when her guide drops her hand and steps back. Emma feels empty, unplugged. She feels like a shock has just run through her body and has now left it. But she's alive. Empty but alive.

"Open your eyes Miss Swan." It's weird for Emma to hear the words now, instead of feel them, but still she opens her eyes and sees the candle flickering in the far end of the room. "I did it?" She wonders out loud, looking towards her teacher to make sure this isn't a trick.

"You did!" Regina smiles across the darkness to her. More than smiles even. Ever bit of her is humming with joy. Emma has lit the candle - a small, but very necessary first step in protecting Henry, and the town, and yes, protecting the Sheriff as well. "I did! I did it!" Emma's voice rises, "I did it because I'm awesome! We're awesome! ... And I'm exhausted." She lowers herself to the floor, her back against the couch, her eyes closing.

She wakes when she notices a glass of water being placed in her hand, but when she opens her eyes, Regina is still in the same place she'd been standing for the last few minutes. "Did I do that?" She asks, worried her powers are growing quickly beyond her control.

"No dear, you most certainly did not. Now drink up. You're going to have a hell of a hangover tomorrow." She watches as Emma drinks the water quickly, half of it ending up on her hoody. "What happened Regina?" She asks when she's gulped everything down. "Magic."

"That felt like more."

"Magic is powerful."

"Obviously." Emma's tired, but not too tired to roll her eyes. "I mean, you even called me Emma. That's pretty serious."

"I don't remember Miss Swan."

"Well I do." She decides not to press her luck. "I felt you."

"I was beside you the whole time."

"No Regina," Emma puts the glass down and looks up, "I felt you. All of you. All this...pain and power and..."

"Miss Swan," Regina began as she starts collecting the odds and ends of their evening together, "With magic - especially magic with _someone_, it's easy to feel like -" She turns around and stops speaking - there's Emma, hovering behind her, having risen silently. Regina prays to the universe that the other woman can't feel her now. She prays the other woman can no longer feel her thoughts, how stunning she thinks her apprentice is, her hair glowing silver and gold in the moonlight, her skin alabaster white like a statue. She can't afford to have these feelings for anyone, let alone Snow's child, the Savior of Fairy Tale Land. She can't afford to develop the weakness of love, or affection, for this, this child - because in every way, Emma, all 29 years of her, is a child compared to her.

Without warning, Emma is touching her hand, touching their lips together in a kiss.

And the world seems to explode for one, brief, eternity.

Love and hate and fear and safety and jealousy and desire - so much desire - flows from one to the other as Emma pushes them, stumbling towards the first surface they can find - the couch. She pushes Regina down and climbs on top of her, straddling her. It must be the magic, the charge built up in them that's forcing this, forcing their hands to roam over the other's body, forcing their fingers to tangle in hair - blond and brown. Regina knows she should stop it, but she can't do anything other than grab a handful of Emma's hair and tug back, so the other woman's neck arches, leaving it exposed for her mouth to work it's way down.

"Is this part of it, Regina?" Emma pants out, her arms resting on the seated woman's shoulders, forcing the words out, trying to pull herself out of this cloud, this fog of emotion. Regina doesn't answer, she just she drags her teeth lightly across the exposed collarbone put forth on display. She stops only when she gets to the hem of Emma's tank top. She hopes this isn't a side effect of Emma's magic. She doesn't want to think the only reason that the other woman could display a desire for her was magic - but she knows better. She knows there's no other way, no other explanation for this behavior. She places a delicate kiss where pale skin meets the white material and closes her eyes. She can feel Emma slide off of her and onto the couch beside her.

"I'm sorry." Regina begins, voice low and quiet, "I should've stopped it."

"Didn't seem like I gave you much of a choice there." Emma laughs awkwardly. "Wait, where are you going?" She asks, as she watches Regina rise from the couch, feeling the cool air around her as if for the first time.

"I should've, I should've known - planned better." Regina began, her back to Emma, trying to organize her disjoined thoughts into a steady stream. The other woman wasn't the only one to experience the exchange of energies and emotions and it was jarring, upsetting, on so many levels to Regina who hadn't felt anything more than hate and rage and pain in years. "It was dangerous to start without you understanding what you were getting into." She turns around to face the other woman, who's now curled up on the couch. "But we don't have time. We just don't - not if you're going to get ready to face my mother."

"But I did good didn't I? I'll get the hang of it." Emma smiles, sleep clouding her eyes, "Won't I?"

"You are the Savior." Regina states. She knows they need to continue, push through the night, every night, if Emma will ever be able to do more than light candles and summon apples. But looking at her, lying there on her couch, looking at her, so like her son, Regina can't help but cave. For the unaccustomed, the initiates, magic is exhausting, overwhelming, They can continue tomorrow. They must.

Against her better judgement, Regina moves to towards the bookshelf and takes out a throw blanket and spreads it over the reclining figure as the candle blows out on its own. "Did you do that Miss Swan?" Regina can't help but ask, terror rising in the back of her throat. If it wasn't, it could - "I told you I'd get the hang of it."

"You are the Savior." Regina repeats, an odd feeling of pride rising up in her chest.

"Now," Emma began, drowsiness slurring her words, "Exactly how much older are you than me?"

"If you must know Miss Swan -" Regina moves to the doorway of the living room, toying with the idea of going to sleep tonight, "I'm 30 years older than you... We share the same birthday. Now good night...Emma." Regina turns and makes her way to the staircase in the dark, pausing only when she hears Emma calling out in the dark "I heard that...Regina." She smiles, because she can, because she's a dying woman who's not dead yet.

Because she can't help herself.

TBC.


	7. I Could Write A Book (a)

**A quick recap/refresher/tl;dr:**

Set before Cora's arrival in Storybrooke, Emma is being watched over in her sleep and she strikes up a tentative relationship with Regina when she catches her using magic at the pier. In turn, Regina forces Emma to accept she is magical and begins to slowly train her in harnessing her power. Henry has a dream of Regina leaving and Regina eventually confesses to Emma that she's teaching her magic in order to arm her against an arriving Cora. During a late night session, they kiss.

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x ~ x

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_"Sometimes I feel like a caretaker of a museum - a huge, empty museum where no one ever comes, and I'm watching over it for no one but myself." Murakami_

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x ~ x

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Emma knows people are starting to talk, starting to worry. They see her muttering over her breakfast in the morning trying to toast her bread with her words, or they see her yellow beater of a car parked in front of Regina's more nights than it isn't. Even Snow and Charming have begun to wonder why she's asking about things 'attacks' and 'weapons' and what an 'armada' is and if they have one in Storybrooke. Frankly, it's exhausting and Emma feels just a little guilty wishing that Cora would just come on and attack already, especially because she knows that with every day that passes, they're one day closer to it. She can feel it now. Ever since that night where Regina helped her light the candle, she has been more...aware... and it's terrifying her.

.

Every time she's ready to give up and tell Regina she's not going back to the house on Mifflin street, having given herself a migraine from trying to boil water with her mind, she catches a glimpse of Henry, or her parents, or Ruby - the people she cares about and loves - living life easily and happily and changes her mind. She can still feel Cora's steely grasp around her heart when she's hovering in that twilight place of memories before she falls asleep. She has heard about Regina's reign, but knows Cora's will be worse. So she keeps returning, night after night to the darkened house with the blinds drawn shut as if that would be enough to keep out the bad, to keep Regina safe.

.

Regina.

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They hadn't kissed since that night. They hadn't even talked about it. But the memory of it would blindside Emma randomly - like at 10.42 in the morning as she picked up the phone to call...someone she couldn't remember. She couldn't tell which was more exhilarating, kissing the Evil Queen or feeling magic course through her. This was the stuff of fairy tales and stories that kids would tell themselves to feel better - and here it was, happening to her. If she was honest with herself, the hope for a repeat performance was part of what kept her going back, but every dawn, Regina would smile, call it a night and show her the door. It seemed after that first initial kiss, Regina grew even more distant, even more removed. Everything became about Henry and protecting him. With every night that passed, Emma saw Regina become more resigned to her fate, as if disconnecting from the world would make it that much easier when the time came. She missed the Evil Queen, she missed the Mayor, she missed Regina and all the snide and sarcastic comments that came with her. She was bored with this teacher who's sole aim was to protect and impart knowledge. So when Emma received a text telling her to meet at the well tonight, she could feel this would be important, one way or another.

.

They have grown beyond the lessons in the darkened house on Mifflin street, and even past Regina's extensive back yard. They have settled into a routine, or at least Emma has. She would be woken up by Henry, who didn't understand why his mom was always so tired in the mornings and drive him to school, she would have some coffee, go to work, pick up the kid, have dinner with her parents and then put Henry to bed before she would sneak out to Regina's where she's slip in from the back to avoid detection. She didn't know what Regina did during the day - she never quite dared to ask beyond 'have a good day did we?' or 'Kill us some unicorns have we?' as she crossed the threshold. They would begin immediately, with Regina relentlessly throwing spell after spell, threat after threat at her student until the dawn broke and she would send her out the back with nothing so much as cup of coffee.

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She knew Cora was approaching - she didn't need reminders from Regina. She could feel a heaviness in the fog that rolled in from the harbour. She could smell a sour stench, like rot and decay, grow stronger every day. She could feel the hair on the back of her neck stand when the breeze blew from the ocean. Regina had warned her Cora would likely approach by sea (apparently water has magical properties regardless of what realm you're in). And while she knew she should be terrified, and she was, Emma was also blindsided often by the memory of hot lips and cold hands on her skin and she couldn't wait for more.

.

So here they were, midnight at the magical well. Emma had cracked a joke at first, asking if this was the other world's version of lover's lane or making out behind the bleachers. Regina responded by dimming the natural light of the stars and moon to near blackness and beginning their lessons for the night:

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"Everyone, magical or not, is aligned to an element. Earth, air, fire or water. It's this element that we draw our very essence from." She began, conjuring up small manifestations of each element before them. "Like that cartoon the kid watches?" Emma teases. Before she can continue however, the ground beneath her begins to move, the wind begins to swirl around her and she's knocked down and windswept - with fire and well water swirling around her. "Neat trick," She laughs at the all too literal actions taken by the other woman, "But subtlety isn't exactly your strong suit Regina."

"No, it's not." Regina responds, flicking her wrist and causing the wind to pick up speed. "I've always found it overrated."

"Very funny." Emma tries to stand but finds herself thrown back to the ground with a ripple of forest floor below her. She can see Regina watch her intently from the other side and realizes suddenly that this was a very, very bad idea. She feels like a kid who's tricked into meeting someone off the internet or something. "I give up, I give up," She shouts towards the other woman, boredom now across her face. "Regina!" She can feel the fire getting hotter, instantly evaporating the water that was constantly pouring down on her. "Make it stop!" She tried to push herself up from her lying position, but couldn't get enough balance on the ground that was grabbing up towards her. "Regina! This isn't funny!" She started to get scared, terrified this was all a ploy to kill her, to take Henry and leave nothing behind of the Storybook town that time forgot. It could be, Regina was patient. Hadn't she lived 28 years without change, each day, each year the same except for her son? "I could care less about your amusement Miss Swan. You want it to stop, stop it yourself."

"I can't! Make it stop! Please!" Emma begins to crawl, if she can't stand, she'll use what she has - but the heat and the steam are too hot and she can feel her hands blistering as she tries to break through the wall.

"You're thinking like a peasant Miss Swan. I expected more of you."

"I trusted you Regina."

"Again, that's of no consequence to me. You can get out of this Miss Swan, if you want it bad enough, if you use what I've taught you." Regina hops up onto the edge of the well and crosses her legs as if she were watching a council meeting and not the demise of her enemy-slash-protégée.

"You've taught me about candles and cups of water and shit!" Emma yells out - "You've taught me shit about real magic."

"Oh really? I'm sensing some rage, Miss Swan. Use it. What does rage feel like?"

"Helpless! Rage feels helpless." Emma wants to cry, wants to throw up, wants to be in bed watching 'Say Yes to the Dress' or some stupid bullshit Snow puts on to 'bond'.

"No, helplessness causes rage, pure rage, is different for everyone. Feel it. Use it."

.

Emma had sworn to herself she would never feel helpless when she left prison - but this is pretty damned near helpless as it gets, being held captive by a psychotic evil queen. She let Regina's words sink in, trying to decipher them. How do you use rage when you can't punch? Kick? Scream? Her usual tactics are useless. She feels the rage at being powerless build up, a hard knot in her stomach that bubbles not up but down, down to the very ground she presses against for dear life... And the angrier she gets, the more the rage bubbles over, the more she starts to shake... Or at least feels like she does until she realizes that the ground has slowed the quakes and she can push herself up to a full stand. Emma plants her two feet firmly on the ground and realizes that the shaking she feels isn't her, but it's her actually being one with the ground enough to steady it, calm it.

.

Regina's first lesson of the flame comes back to her and suddenly it all makes sense. She can't fight Cora with her usual tactics of kicks and punches because Cora wouldn't fight like that, Cora would use magic. Clarity and purpose wash over Emma now. She knows what she needs to do - if not how. She has mastered Earth, at least in a small way, by channeling her emotions down to the ground. That leaves Wind, Fire, and Water. She can feel her skin buzz, the same way it buzzes when she knew she was near a perp. She can just feel it.

.

"Any day now Miss Swan." Regina shouts, feigning disinterest, but through the flames and steam, Emma can see a glint of pride in Regina's eyes as they bore into her own. That glint, that chance that Regina feels something towards her other than hatred or destruction cause the rage in her belly to...change...to a curious feeling that she hasn't felt in a very long time. A stillness that she can't place washes over her as she closes her eyes, unable to think with Regina staring at her like that. A delicious sense of anticipation for something to happen... If she could only hear herself think...If only the winds would stop, quiet themselves.

.

The winds slowly taper down...

.

Emma opens her eyes as she realizes the winds have slowed, causing the fire and water that spin around her to slow as well... Her mind races as she tries to contain her emotions. That stillness is what she needs to cultivate, to maintain. They stop spinning and the rush of the wind is replaced by the whistle of steam - of water hitting fire and evaporating instantly.

.

And it's over.

.

It's all over.

.

Relief washes over her as she glances around her, not trusting the exercise to be really and truly over. It was almost too easy. Emma takes a step out of the circle that she was held in - "There's not even a mark on the ground!" She exclaims loudly to Regina as she marches up to the other woman. "You almost killed me and there's nothing to even show for it!" She punches Regina in the arm, hard, before she flinches. "Well, almost nothing." Her hand, still blistered from getting too close to the wall, shows that it wasn't all in her mind.

.

Regina hops off of her perch on the well and stands before her pupil, taking the swollen, damaged hand gently between her own. The flesh is red and oozing and she's both a little surprised and impressed Emma hasn't complained about it yet. "I'm sorry." She mutters quietly, focusing her energy and her gaze on the task at hand of healing the younger woman. "It was extreme, but I was suspecting you were getting bored of me." Regina teases, hiding her apology behind the joke, "And we couldn't have that."

"Well I'll say this, Regina, you certainly how to keep a girl captivated."

"Oh, how 'punny' Miss Swan," Regina replies, her eyes flicking upward from their intertwined hands directly into Emma's green eyes. How could they still be so green, so sparkling in the dark? She quickly forces her eyes back down, "I hope you understand why I did what I did?" She asks, her voice taking on a false sense of confidence.

"Because you can't help but show off?" Emma snips. She can feel a warm sensation spread from her outstretched hand towards the rest of her - she can feel Regina's in hers. She can feel, if she thinks very hard, the cells in her hand growing, regenerating, pushing newly formed, flawless skin up and out until it's back to normal, complete with the scar between her third and fourth fingers from a knife trick had gone horrible wrong.

"You have to learn how to use your magic without me holding your hand Miss Swan. You have to be able to use it when there's no one on your side and you have nothing left but you." Regina's hand gently squeezes Emma's on that point.

.

In the dark, with being a few inches apart from the Evil Queen, her skin nearly glowing in the faint moonlight, Emma notices the feeling in her belly that quenched the flames, that stillness, is still there. A moment passes and she inhales sharply as she realizes it's the stillness you feel before a lover begins to undress you...the very moment before worlds and bodies crash together in a messy heap of elbows and mouths and -

.

"Again!" Emma demands, as she leaps away from Regina and takes her hand with her. "Another one, another test!" She laughs as she takes a few steps backwards, putting as much distance as she could between the two of them.

"Cocky, aren't you? You barely made it out of that one alive."

"But I did, without your help. I'm kind of a badass Regina, I don't know if you know that. I've slain a dragon, and even defeated an Evil Queen or two."

"So I've heard..." Regina's form is lit from behind, a small orb of fire that appears in her left hand. "I'm game, Miss Swan. You dodge, dart and generally survive my fireballs and we'll call it a night - just think, going home before dawn, a hot shower, a warm bed."

"I have a better idea your Highness. If I dodge, dart and survive your fireworks display, you have to kiss me." She surprises herself with that one.

"Excuse me?"

"What? Is the big, bad Queen afraid of little ol' me?" Emma laughter rings out amongst the darkness and the trees as she turns on her heel and runs away, not giving Regina the choice to reject the offer.

.

So they run.

.

They run through the woods like 10 year olds playing a game of magical tag. Regina chases Emma, hurling fireballs as she shouts out directions and suggestions until Emma is able to run and deflect at the same time. Sometimes she uses ice, sometimes she uses fire, sometimes she's able to divert it from the original course back to it's owner. It's not elegant, but it's effective and Regina feels her heart grow a little lighter at the thought that she taught the Savior how to defend herself. A drop of redemption in the vast sea of her atrocities.

.

Emma, for her part, feels a thrill she hasn't felt since Boston, with her heart pounding and her racing, her muscles aching as they pushed her body further and harder. Sure she was running from a witch in a forest as opposed to chasing a jumper on the cracked concrete of Boston, but a chase is a chase is a chase and Emma loves it, no matter where, no matter what. What's more, Emma's far more comfortable being the hunter instead of the hunted... She darts behind a tree and doubles back behind Regina. "Where'd you go Swan?" She watches as Regina stops dead, realizing she's not chasing anyone anymore. "Swan?!" Emma waits quietly, using the moonlight to help her pick her way closer and closer to the evil Queen. She wills her heart to stop racing but realizes that it's not her heart that's pounding, but Regina's - it must be because it matches the puffs of air that are coming from the other woman's mouth. She can feel Regina's heart race in her chest and it's disturbing and confusing but she doesn't want to think about that. She thinks instead about how to best turn the tables on Regina... She's still thinking when the forest lights up in a flash and she's knocked down on her ass. "That's cheating, your Highness!"

"You took too long," Regina calls out as she walks towards, and then past the heap of savior on the ground. "You have to be decisive, you can't second guess yourself, ever. You'll drive yourself crazy if you do."

"You would know." Emma mutters as she pushes herself up off the ground and follows after her.

.

x ~ x

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"What are you doing here Miss Swan?" Regina asks, her body blocking Emma's path into the house.

"I won." Emma uses the same tone she would if she were talking to an 8 year old, but then given Regina's less than mature responses, she's not particularly surprised.

"You most certainly did not."

"I most certainly did - and then you cheated."

"There is no cheating in Magic."

"Whatever, I won." Emma sidesteps her way into the darkened house and shrugs her jacket off and tosses it on a chair in the living room.

"Where are you going now?"

"Kitchen. I'm hungry." Emma explains, as if once again, she's talking to a particularly slow 8 year old.

.

Emma had made a realization on her way home from the forest, and that was that she didn't want to go home. She wanted to go to Regina's home. She wanted to pick the other woman's brain and stand too close to her and feel that stillness in her belly again - and then she wanted to push past it, push their lips together, pull her hair in her hands and generally make out with her. She knows this is likely one of the worst ideas she's ever had - she can't imagine making out with a semi-virginal Evil Ice Queen from another dimension is ever a good idea, but it'll be worth it. Especially if there's a good chance that one, or both of them will die soon by the hand of some crazed, psychotic Joan Crawford impersonator.

.

Which is why she finds herself flipping on the lights as she walks into the kitchen and searching for some cereal.

.

"Go home Miss Swan." Regina demands, "We're through for the night."

"But I'm hungry and I'm here and I'm hoping you haven't had a chance to poison anything. Then again," Emma turns, having grabbed some milk from the fridge, "I don't really know what you do during the days." Her voice falters, but she forces it to recover as she turns back around to search for a bowl, a spoon. "You know the kid's right, you have lousy taste in cereal. Bran, Oat? Where's the marshmallow monsters and sugar loops?" She talks because she doesn't want to think. This is the first time she's seen Regina out of her cloak since the dock all those weeks ago... Her already slender frame has been reduced to the bare essentials of skin and bone, her suit hanging off of her not quite the way it once did.

"Sugar rots kids brains."

"My brain's pretty intact." Emma responds, sitting down at the kitchen table and pouring a bowlful of Corn Flakes.

"That remains to be seen - I mean, you're here aren't you?" Regina looks down at the blond at her table, leaves in her hair from their earlier brawl in the briars. "You're not leaving are you?"

"Nope."

"Well then, I'll be headed off to bed, don't forget to lock up when you eat your way out of my kitchen."

"Sit." Emma kicks out a chair from under the table towards Regina.

"Did you just...kick my furniture?"

"Nope, I used leg magic. Now sit." Emma smiles up sweetly before shoveling another spoonful into her mouth, completely disregarding the look Regina was shooting her. "You know, that look really used to terrify me. Not so much now."

"Goodnight." Regina turns around and walks out the kitchen, flipping the lights off as she leaves.

.

"You know I'll just follow you." Emma points out, rising with her bowl of cereal and making her way out to the foyer. It's dark, but she can still see Regina's form standing on the stairs.

"Why?"

"Because I'm starting to get you. You're corrupt and cruel and narcissistic -"

"The word you're searching for is Evil dear. What did I say about being decisive?"

"Perhaps even Evil."

"I am. No 'perhaps' about it."

"So's the rest of the world Regina." Even as the word evil leaves her mouth, Emma heard the pressure against her chest, like a hand pushing on her heart, disappointment.

"It is."

"It's not an excuse. I can't excuse what you did in the past. That's not my place -"

"That's where you're wrong, you're the savior, Miss Swan. That's what and where your place is. Your place is to judge, and my place is to be judged."

"I'm not my mother Regina, you need to accept that." She peers up at the woman who's shoulders have begun to sag with the weight of 68 years of sorrow.

"Once again, good night Miss Swan." Regina climbs the stairs, one step at a time and pauses when she reaches the second floor hallway. She knows Emma won't give up that easily, at least she hopes not.

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The thought that after all this time she still hopes hurts her.

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Hope to Regina Mills is a four-letter word, a concept that she doesn't have the luxury of indulging in. She's not ready to go to her room, it's too intimate, too much Emma in her one space of safety, her retreat. She won't allow her to go into Henry's room either - she keeps that shut, every toy and comic exactly where he left it. On days where she's having a particularly difficult time, she opens the door and allows herself to be exasperated at the mess, swearing she'll make him clean it up when he comes back from school - but he never does come. She's trapped herself into a corner and the only way out is up.

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x ~ x

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AN: First of all, I know this is _loooong_ _overdue_. I'm sorry - somewhere between posting the previous chapter and this, I decided to quit my job, pick up and move clear cross the country...and then find work and an apartment... (So you know, nothing major :) The good news is, I'm fairly settled and have managed to write a few chapters at once (full disclosure, this chapter came out to 15 pages so I split it) so I'll be able to post on the regular. I've also managed to plot the ending and the follow up (should there be a desire, so you know, let me know via _feedback_!)

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(Another) AN: As always, feel free to drop a line of **feedback**, even if it's a 'hey, you kind of suck' line... (_Please and thank you_ :)


	8. In The Wee Small Hours

The Night Will Always Win

By ithinkyourewonderful

Disclaimer: Not mine, never was, never will be...

Rating: PG-13 (Language)

Placement: Set between "Queen of Hearts" and "The Cricket Game" (IE - Emma and Snow are back, and Cora's well on her way but not here yet.)

Summary: Post-Curse - Regina has a bold plan to protect Henry, but can Emma trust her? Especially when it means learning from the Evil Queen herself?

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x ~ x

Chapter Six (pt II) - In The Wee Small Hours

x ~ x

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Regina waves her hand and down drops the stairs leading up to the attic. She doesn't hurry up the ladder, there's no need. She knows Emma will come, and as much as she wishes she didn't, she can't wait. She picks her way through the darkened room, she hadn't been here often, but she knows the path amongst the dust covered furniture towards the small landing that overlooks the backyard. She throws open the doors and takes a breath of the bracing sea air.

.

And waits.

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And waits. Until she hears a dull thud. "Do watch your step Miss Swan." Regina calls out, hoping she can wipe the smile off her face before Emma can see it. She does. In fact, by the time the other woman joins her on the balcony, she's managed to school her face into a serious expression.

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"Don't bother -" Emma finally speaks, "I saw it. The Evil Queen smiles and the world didn't end. Who'd have thunk it?" She takes a deep breath. "It's nice up here. You can't see anything..."

"But stars." Regina finishes, looking up at the seemingly endless blanket.

"It goes on forever, doesn't it?" Emma asks as she drops her voice in awe.

"It seems that way, doesn't it dear? But no. Nothing goes on forever. Not even the stars." They spend a moment taking it in. Regina shivers slightly, but continues, "I used to spend so much time here, when we first got here. It was the only place that felt like home."

"Wasn't that the point of not being home, to forget it?" No response from Regina. "Why'd you stop?"

"You can't hear Henry's room from here."

.

Emma turns and watches the woman beside her and imagines for a second what she must have been like 12 years ago. She assumes she must have been very different to the woman standing here now. Although in her defense, she was very different to the woman who stood at the door two years ago. It seems even the Evil Queen is capable of change.

"Do you ever regret it, Regina, or second guess it?"

"No."

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There's not much else to say, but neither of them are ready to turn in yet. It's closer to midnight than it is to dawn, plenty of time to sleep, a luxury for Emma in particular, but they can both feel morning approaching. "I'll be back," Emma murmurs quietly as she turns and looks around the attic. She grabs a cover off a table and shakes off the dust before she brings it back to the ledge and drops it onto the floor. She lies down on it and looks up at Regina, wishing the other woman had worn a skirt instead of pants today. "Don't look at me that way Your Highness," Emma teases, tugging on the standing woman's pant leg, addressing the look of disgust in her eyes. "You were running through the mud earlier, a dust cover wouldn't kill you. If it did, I'm sure the villagers would've tried it sooner!" Emma props her head on her hands and crosses her ankles, it's pretty comfortable actually, a little like camping. Her smile grows as Regina settles down beside her, duplicating her posture. Suddenly, they both feel a little warmer. They let the silence wash over them.

.

Somewhere a dog barks.

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"What am I going back to, Miss Swan?" Regina finally asks, her voice solemn and low enough that Emma feels it in her stomach.

"Fairy Tale Land?" She asks, "Your kingdoms or whatever?"

"Do you know how many people died for that 'whatever' you're referring to?"

"I have an idea, yes." Emma answers, she avoids pointing out how many must have died from the other woman's hand, or in her name. "There's not much left, between the curse and the ogres." She doesn't believe that Regina will leave her, will leave Henry. She has convinced herself that this isn't training, but being friends. She won't act on the urge to kiss Regina again, because if she does, it will make her return to Fairy Tale Land real, it will make it clear that everyone ultimately leaves her, that she isn't enough, that she should examine the Freudian implications of wanting to fuck the Evil Queen senseless until neither of them can move. "That's fine." Regina murmurs, shifting to get comfortable. "There's not much left here for me anyways - and they'll be nothing left if my mother succeeds."

"Good point." Emma agrees as she moves one of her hands out from under her head and waves Regina over. "Come on, you're uncomfortable, it's the least I can do."

"What? Be my pillow?" the brunette scoffs, peering in the moonlight and seeing nothing but earnestness in the woman just an arm's length away. "I'll have you know your Evilness, that I happen to make a very comfortable pillow. I shall be your squishy." Emma pleads at her with her eyes, softening at seeing the other woman's openness. It would be so easy, too easy to allow herself to take comfort from the savior. As she debates it, Emma shuffles over until she's at Regina's side and smiles up with the same smile as their son and soon, she has no choice but to curl up in into the other woman, her head on the blond's shoulder.

.

She tries to not think of how she used to lie like this with Daniel in the fields.

.

She tries but fails.

.

She tries not to think of how her heart stretches in her chest again, the feeling so foreign that the first time she felt it, she was convinced it was a heart attack.

.

If she doesn't think about Emma Swan, and the stirring in her chest and the fact that any day now she'll have to give this all up to return to Fairy Tale Land, she''ll be fine.

.

"Are you going to miss anything from here when you go back?" Emma asks softly, her hand unconsciously wrapping around the other woman's too-slender waist, drawing her close. "This isn't my world Miss Swan."

"That's not what I asked Regina." Emma wishes she could look into Regina's eyes, to confirm if the fear she hears is real, but their position won't let them, and she won't risk moving. "Aren't you going to miss anything? Indoor plumbing perhaps?"

"Oh Miss Swan... I'll miss... People." Regina hesitantly answers, curling more into Emma's side.

"People?"

"Yes, Pongo and Archie and Kathryn and...Henry. People."

"Anything else? And Pongo is a dog, not a person, just so you know."

"Pongo is better bred and behaved than most people here, I'll have you know."

"You were saying... things you'll miss."

"Music."

"Music?" Emma sits up slightly, willing to risk shifting Regina to be able to look at her.

"Lie down Miss Swan." Regina commands, looking up with a small smile, "Or I'll have to replace you with a more reliable pillow."

"I'd hate for you to do that Miss Mills, it's just... I didn't take you for a music fan."

"I guess the book left that out."

.

The conversation dies out for a moment.

.

"What kind of music?" Emma finally asks, curious what the Evil Queen has playing on her iPod.

"All kinds, what we called music there left a lot to be desired. Imagine arriving here and having the whole of western music just waiting to be discovered! Those voices, those sounds. They're incredible."

"The Beatles?"

"The Beatles, the Stones, the Beach Boys -"

"The Evil Queen does not listen to the Beach Boys! I refuse to believe that."

"The Evil Queen does not, but I do. Judy Garland, Ella Fitzgerald - there's just so much! In thirty years, I still haven't scratched the surface. Lutes and lyres and dirges just don't compare up to Frank Sinatra singing 'Fly Me To The Moon' Miss Swan."

"You really mean this, you really will miss it!" Emma asks, curious, and half wishing she could hear music as the other woman did. To her it was nothing but background noise, something to sing along to in the shower.

"I will, yes. Music, music transports you, allows you to feel something for three and a half minutes, allows you to hope, Miss Swan, to dream, to forget who and what you are and..."

"And? Don't leave me hanging Your Highness, I've never heard -"

"Shhhhh." Regina rolls onto Emma, looking up into the inky blackness of the attic. "Don't you hear it?"

"Hear what?" To be honest, Emma couldn't focus on anything other than the sparrow-like weight of Regina on top of her, her eyes sparkling in the night."

"Music, Miss Swan." Regina climbs up to standing and listens. Emma can hear it now, faint and floating, rich strings and a faint scratching... Needle on a record.

"Neat trick, Regina."

"It's not me. I didn't..." She turns to Emma with a smile.

"Why are you looking at me like that?"

"What were you thinking about when I was talking?"

"I don't know, but do you want to know what I'm thinking about now?" Emma asks, pushing herself up to a stand.

"I don't know Miss Swan, do I?"

"Would you care to dance, Your Majesty?" She asks, bowing in a way she feels stupid, but is suddenly worth it when she leans back up and sees Regina with a smile that warms her eyes.

"What are you doing?" The other woman laughs.

"I'm asking you to dance - I know I'm but a lowly Princess, borne of True Love and, but I'm hoping you're willing to overlook that."

"Well, Fair Princess, how can I not with an offer like that?" Regina steps forward and places her left hand on Emma's shoulder and her right outstretched and waiting.

.

And waiting.

.

"Emma," She whispers, "You put one hand on my waist and the other holds this one..." The blonde quickly follows the instructions and they begin to sway slowly. "Thanks, I've um... It's been a while since I've done this." She explains.

"If anyone saw us," Regina begins, but Emma simply spins them quickly and then asks: "What are we dancing to?"

"We are dancing to..." She strains to hear the voice, "Frank Sinatra..." The answer is whispered into Emma's ear as the Queen hesitantly nestles herself against the crook of her shoulder.

"How does it go?"

"You can hear, can't you, Princess?"

"I can, but I'd rather hear it from you."

"Miss Swan..." Regina pulls back and peers into the other woman's eyes. As it is, they're treading on such dangerous ground. She has spent the last few months pulling away from the other woman, and yet, in a span of minutes, hours, the other woman has undone months of work, years of isolation. But that's always been the case with Emma, hans't it? She marches in and just fills up the town, the room, her heart with just herself.

"Please Regina?" The blue-green eyes plead, the pink lips curl up and Regina feels her heart tighten. Perhaps she should have removed it from her body years ago when she had the chance. It would've made life easier.

"In the wee small hours of the morning... That's the time you miss her most of all..." Regina's voice dies in the dark as they slowly turn and Emma closes her eyes and gently tugs the other woman even closer. "I have something to confess Regina." Emma whispers. "When I said it's been a while since I've done this, I lied. I've... I've never done this, have you?"

"Dance in the dark with my mortal enemy?" The older woman shoots back, her lips curling upwards into a smile she buries in Emma's shoulder. "Absolutely."

"I mean dance with..."

"Never with a Princess, Emma." Regina says, stopping and looking straight into Emma's eyes. "Never with someone like you."

.

And in that moment Emma realizes that she would do anything she could to protect the other woman. To be the White Knight, the Savior to the Evil Queen.

.

TBC.


End file.
